Cabeza de barangay

A cabeza de barangay ("barangay head"), also known as teniente del barrio ("holder of the barrio"), was the head of a barangay or barrio political unit in the Philippines during Spanish rule. The office was inherited from the Malayan aristocratic rank of datu (i.e., lord) after barangays had become tributaries of the Kingdom of the Spains and the Indies. Philip II of Spain decreed that the nobility in the Philippine islands should retain the honours and privileges they had before their conversion to Christianity and subjugation to Spanish rule.