Whereas the
change of government in the Department of Mindanao and Sulu, effected
in January last, necessitates certain reforms, and not only is the time
ripe for these reforms, but they are insistently demanded by present
conditions in said department; and
Whereas it is the desire of the people of the Islands to promote the
most rapid moral, material, social, and political development of the
inhabitants of said department in order to accomplish their complete
unification with the inhabitants of other provinces of the Archipelago;
and
Whereas for the accomplishment of this purpose the extension thereto of
the general laws of the country and of the forms and procedures of
government followed in other provinces, under certain limitations in
harmony with the special conditions now prevailing in said department,
is among other measures advisable and necessary, but always with the
understanding that such limitations are temporary and that it is the
firm and decided purpose of the Philippine Commission to abolish such
limitations together with the departmental government as soon as the
several districts of said region shall have been converted into
regularly organized provinces: Now, therefore,
CHAPTER I
THE DEPARTMENT
ARTICLE 1
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
Section 1. Short title. — The short title of this Act
shall be "The Organic Act for the Department of Mindanao and
Sulu."
Sec. 2. Territory included. — The Department of
Mindanao and Sulu shall consist of the entire island of Mindanao,
excluding only the Provinces of Misamis and Surigao, together with the
Sulu Archipelago, including the islands known as the Jolo Group, the
Tawi Tawi Group, and all other islands pertaining to the Philippine
Archipelago under the sovereignty of the United States of America south
of the eighth parallel of north latitude, excepting therefrom the
islands of Palawan and Balabac, and the immediately adjacent islands,
but including the island of Cagayan Sulu.
The capital of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu shall be at
Zamboanga.
Sec. 3. Definitions. — Unless some other meaning
is plainly apparent from the language or context, or unless such
construction is inconsistent with the manifest intent of the
legislators, whenever the words "governor," "secretary," treasurer,"
"attorney," and "delegate" occur in this Act they will be construed to
refer to officers of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu, provided for
in section five hereof.
The term "non-Christians" shall include Mohammedans and pagans.
Sec. 4. Corporate powers. — The government of the
Department of Mindanao and Sulu established under this Act shall be a
body corporate with power to sue and be sued, to have and use a
corporate seal, to hold and convey property, real and personal, to make
contracts for labor and material needed in the construction of duly
authorized public works, and to incur such other obligations as are
authorized by law.
ARTICLE 2
THE ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL
Sec. 5. Officers appointed by the
Governor-General.—The Governor-General, by and with the consent of the
Philippine Commission, shall appoint, for the Department of Mindanao
and Sulu, a governor, secretary, attorney, treasurer, and delegate. In
the event of a vacancy occurring in any of the offices hereinbefore
mentioned, it shall be promptly reported to the Governor-General by the
department governor. The department governor may, until such vacancy is
filled, require any department officer to perform the duties of the
vacant office in addition to the regular duties of such department
officer.
Sec. 6. Administrative council, powers and duties.
— The five officers appointed by the Governor-General as provided in
the next preceding section, to wit, governor, secretary, attorney,
treasurer, and department delegate, shall constitute the administrative
council. The governor shall be it presiding officer. Three members
shall constitute a quorum. The council herein created shall be an
advisory board to the governor, and is authorized:
(a) Appropriations. — To appropriate and expend
public funds of the department: Provided, However, That no
appropriation made pursuant to the provisions of this subsection shall
be valid or take effect until it shall have been approved by the
Philippine Commission or unless and until thirty days after receipt of
the notice thereof by the Philippine Commission shall have passed
without the disapproval of the Philippine Commission having been given:
And Provided Further, That any unexpended balances of appropriations
made pursuant to the provisions hereof shall be returned to the general
funds of the department treasury.
(b) Hours of labor. — To adopt rules regulating the
hours of employment in the various offices in the department,
provinces, municipalities, and other political subdivisions thereof.
(c) Seal. — To provide a seal for the department.
(d) Appointment and removal of officers and
employees. — By majority vote of all the members to confirm the
appointment of officers when required by this Act and for cause suspend
and remove any officer or employee of the department, except officers
appointed by the Governor-General.
(e) Additional duties. — Perform such other duties as
are imposed thereon by this Act or laws hereafter enacted.
Sec. 7. Department officers, salaries of . — The
department governor shall receive an annual salary of twelve thousand
pesos: Provided, That the first civilian governor shall receive an
annual salary of eighteen thousand pesos, together with a residence,
equipped and furnished, to be provided by the department; and each of
the other department officers, namely, secretary, attorney, and
treasurer, shall each receive an annual salary of not exceeding eight
thousand pesos to be fixed by the Governor-General in the appointment
and to be approved with the appointment by the Philippine Commission.
The senior supervising engineer, the superintendent of schools, and the
chief health officer shall each receive an annual salary of not
exceeding eight thousand pesos; and the superintendent of reformatories
shall receive an annual salary of not exceeding six thousand pesos, to
be fixed in the appointment.
The salaries of all officers and employees of the department shall be
payable out of the revenues thereof or other available funds. In case
of officers and men of the Army or Constabulary, detailed to perform
duties in connection with the government of the Department of Mindanao
and Sulu, or any political subdivision thereof, they shall be paid in
addition to their regular salary such additional allowance as may be
provided by the administrative council.
ARTICLE 3
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Sec. 8. Department governor; powers and duties. —
It shall be the duty and within the power of the department governor:
(a) General supervision. — To have supervision and
control over the various offices of the department, the provincial
governments, and other political subdivisions thereof.
(b) Execution of laws. — To see that the laws are
faithfully executed by all officers of the department, provinces, and
municipalities.
(c) Provincial and municipal police. — To have
control, through the various provincial governors and the municipal
presidents, of the provincial and municipal police.
(d) Constabulary. — To direct, through the district
chief of Constabulary, the use and control of the Constabulary within
the Department of Mindanao and Sulu; and whenever public interests
require, to withdraw the Constabulary from one province or municipality
for use in another.
(e) Inspection of provinces. — To visit at least once
in every six months every province within the department.
(f) Appointments. — To appoint all department
officers, except as herein otherwise provided, and to fix their
salaries within the limitations provided by law subject to the approval
of the administrative council.
(g) Suspensions and removals. — To suspend from
office any officer or employee of the department, or political
subdivision thereof, subject to the provisions and limitations of
paragraph (d) of section six hereof.
(h) Governor-General, report to. — To discharge the
duties of his office under the general supervision and control of the
Governor-General to whom he shall make a report of the conditions of
the department at the end of each fiscal year, recommending such
measures as he may deem necessary for the be of the department, and
perform such other duties as the Governor-General may require of him.
(i) Land tax, remission of collection. — To remit,
subject to the approval of the Governor-General, the collection of the
land tax in whole or in part for a period not exceeding one year at a
time in any province organized hereunder or any part thereof in which
he deems the public interest demands such action, other provisions of
law to the contrary notwithstanding.
(j) Appropriations. — To approve or disapprove in
whole or in part any provincial appropriation, subject to appeal to the
Governor-General.
(k) Lawsuits. — To direct, in his discretion, the
bringing or defense of suits on behalf of the department, provincial,
and municipal governments and to compromise the same upon the
recommendation of the attorney and the approval of the judge of first
instance for the district.
(l) Deposit of public funds in a bank. — To authorize
the treasurer to deposit so much of the funds belonging to the
department or to provincial and municipal governments as may not be
needed in the near future for public use in a bank of deposit of
approved standing in the Islands; and any interest paid on such
deposits shall inure to the benefit of the respective treasury of the
department, province, or municipality, as the case may be.
(m) Boundary lines of provinces, and so forth. —
Subject to the approval of the Governor-General, to enlarge, contract,
or otherwise change, by executive order, whenever in his judgment the
public welfare requires it, the boundary of any province, sub province,
municipality, or any other political subdivision within the Department
of Mindanao and Sulu, or separate any such subdivision into such
portions as may be required as aforesaid, merge any of such subdivision
or portions with another, name any new subdivision so created, change
the seat of government within any subdivision, existing or created
hereunder, to such place therein as the public interest require, and
shall fix in such executive order the date when the change, merger,
separation, or other action shall take effect. Whenever such action as
aforesaid creates a new political subdivision, the department governor
shall appoint such officers for the new subdivision with such powers
and duties as may be required by the existing provisions of law
applicable to the case and fix their salaries, subject to the
limitations provided in this Act. Such equitable distribution of the
funds of changed subdivisions between the subdivisions affected shall
be made as is recommended by the district auditor and approved by the
department governor.
(n) Capture of criminals; offer of reward. — To
offer, or to grant authority to the provincial governor of any province
organized under this Act, or the district chief of Constabulary for the
Department of Mindanao and Sulu to offer, a reward not exceeding one
thousand pesos, for information leading to the capture and conviction
of a member of a band of brigands, or of the perpetrator of any murder
or robbery or of any crime, or for information leading to the capture
of an escaped convict.
(o) Administrative investigations. — To investigate,
whenever he deems it necessary for the good of the public service, any
action or conduct of any person or persons in the service of the
department, or any of the provinces, municipalities, or other political
subdivisions therein established, and designate a suitable person to
make such investigation and to take the testimony of any person or
persons which, in his judgment, may be relevant thereto and may detail
or authorize the said person designated to procure stenographers and
interpreters to assist in the same. Such person so designated shall
have full power to subpoena witnesses and require the production of
documentary evidence and to administer oaths to witnesses as is
possessed by the Courts of First Instance in criminal actions and may
invoke the summary process of such courts for the punishment of
contempt in failure, except for good reasons, to appear or to produce
documentary evidence or to give testimony. All interpreters acting in
any such proceeding shall be sworn well and truly to interpret between
the counsel, the witnesses, and the person so designated, and the
stenographers shall be sworn to make a true transcript of the testimony
given on such proceeding.
(p) Parole of prisoners. — To authorize and direct,
subject to the approval of the Governor-General, the discharge from
custody, whenever he thinks best, of any person convicted of crime in
any court within the Department of Mindanao and Sulu and suspend the
sentence of such convict without granting a pardon, and prescribe the
terms upon which a convict so paroled shall have his sentence
suspended. Upon the failure of any convict to observe the conditions of
his parole, to be determined by the department governor, the latter
shall have authority to direct the arrest and return of such convict to
custody, and thereupon said convict shall be required to carry out the
sentence of the court as though no parole had been granted him, the
time between the parole and subsequent arrest not being taken as part
of the term of his sentence in computing the period of his confinement.
(q) Condemnation proceedings. — To determine for and
in behalf of the government of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu and
of any political subdivision thereof when it is necessary or
advantageous to exercise the right of eminent domain. He may, in his
discretion, direct the department attorney to cause condemnation
proceedings to be begun in the court having jurisdiction. The right of
condemnation or eminent domain herein granted shall otherwise be
exercised in accordance with general laws at the time being in force.
(r) Harbor lines, wharves, and so forth. — To
establish by executive order harbor lines in the department beyond
which no piers, wharves, bulkheads, or other works shall be extended or
deposits made, except under such regulations as he may prescribe from
time to time, and to control and regulate the use of, or to operate,
all piers, wharves, bulkheads, and other like improvements together
with their arrastre plants and other equipment for the public service.
(s) Rules for general welfare.—To make and prescribe,
and from time to time to change, with the approval of the
administrative council, such rules and regulations as he in his
discretion may deem most conducive to the public interest, the security
of life and property, and the general welfare. It shall not be
necessary that such rules and regulations be uniform for the entire
department, but they may be different for each political subdivision.
Such rules and regulations may provide penalties not exceeding a fine
of two hundred pesos or six months' imprisonment or both.
Such rules and regulations may be suspended, modified, or annulled by
the Philippine Commission.
(t) Elections, postponed. — To postpone, by executive
order, any provincial or municipal election hereinafter provided,
subject to the approval of the Governor-General.
(u) Assistance of the United States troops. — To
secure the enforcement of law and order in cases of resistance to
lawful authority or disturbances of the peace which in his opinion the
Constabulary and municipal police are unable, or find it difficult; to
suppress, by notifying the Governor-General who may, in his discretion,
request the assistance of the Army of the United States except that in
localities where there is no telegraphic communication with Manila, the
department governor may, in great emergencies, make a direct call upon
the commander of the United States military forces stationed in the
province, notifying the Governor-General immediately of such action.
Sec. 9. Department secretary, duties. — The
department secretary shall, during a vacancy in the office of the
governor or during the governor's disability, or absence from the
department, perform the duties of governor; he may, under the direction
of the governor, make inspection of public affairs in the various
provinces and municipalities, and perform such duties in reference
thereto as the governor may authorize; he shall acquaint himself, as
far as practicable, with the languages and customs of the
non-Christians within the department, and from time to time make report
to the governor of such matters as he deems necessary for their
betterment. When the governor is absent from the capital but present in
the department, the secretary shall perform such duties of the governor
as may be delegated to him in writing by the governor. He shall attest
the official acts of the governor of the department when required to do
so, and shall record all of the governor's acts which are required by
law to be recorded; he shall be the custodian of the department seal;
he shall act as custodian of all records and documents affecting the
department and discharge all duties usually pertaining to the office of
the secretary; he shall on demand furnish certified copies of all
public records and documents under his custody for which he may charge,
to any private person but not to any public official needing the same
for a public purpose, the amount of ten centavos for every one hundred
words of such copy, including the certificate, which amount shall
accrue to the department treasury; and shall perform such other duties
as the department governor may require of him. He shall act as
secretary of the administrative council herein created, attest all its
acts and resolutions, and prescribe rules and regulations for the
guidance of provincial and municipal secretaries.
Sec. 10. Department attorney and assistant;
duties, and so forth. — The department attorney shall be the attorney
and legal adviser of the department and of each of its officers and of
the administrative council hereinbefore constituted and shall, when
called upon by the said council or any officer of the department,
furnish a written opinion on questions of law arising is the
administration of the government. He shall represent the department,
and all provincial and municipal governments therein, in all suits
brought on their behalf or against them in any court, except in cases
where the interests of the department are opposed to those of any
provincial or municipal government, when he shall represent the
department, and the province or municipality may employ special
counsel; and in cases where the interest of any province are opposed to
those of another province or municipality, in cases when two
municipalities are adverse parties in the same litigation, and in cases
arising under Act Numbered Thirteen hundred seventy-six, in all of
which cases the provincial or municipal government concerned may employ
special counsel.
There shall be an assistant attorney for the department, who shall be
appointed by the governor subject to confirmation by the administrative
council. Both the department attorney and the assistant attorney shall
be duly admitted members of the bar of the Supreme Court of the
Philippine Islands. The assistant attorney shall receive such annual
salary as may be fixed and provided for such officer in the
appropriations made by the administrative council not to exceed five
thousand pesos annually. Before assuming office he shall take the oath
of office hereinafter prescribed for provincial officers.
The department attorney shall appear and take charge of prosecutions
for the government in any court of justice within the department, but
he may direct the assistant attorney to represent the public in the
prosecution of crimes in any courts within the Department of Mindanao
and Sulu, when the public interest requires it. The assistant attorney
shall also render such other services as may be assigned to him by the
department attorney. During the temporary absence from duty of the said
assistant attorney, or whenever for any reason he is disqualified to
act therein in an official capacity, or in case of a vacancy in such
office, or whenever, from any cause, such officer is unable to, or does
not appear in any criminal proceeding in any court in the department,
the department governor, whenever in the judgment of the department
attorney it shall be necessary, shall appoint a temporary assistant
attorney who shall have the powers of such assistant attorney and shall
serve in such capacity until his temporary employment shall be
terminated by the governor. For such service, the temporary assistant
attorney shall receive such compensation as the governor shall
determine, not exceeding the salary herein provided for the assistant
attorney.
With the consent of the court first had, the department attorney and
the assistant attorney are hereby empowered, virtute officii, to enter
a nolle prosequi and thereby at once to stay the proceeding in any
criminal action in the courts of justice within the department, at any
stage in the proceeding. The department attorney shall discharge his
duties under the general supervision of the Attorney-General of the
Insular Government, and the Attorney-General shall represent the
department and the provincial and municipal governments organized
within the territory of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu in all
suits for or against them which shall come before the Supreme Court,
except in cases where the interests of the department are opposed to
those of any provincial or municipal government when he shall represent
the department, and the province or municipality may employ special
counsel; but if the Attorney-General deems it necessary he may require
the department attorney to assist in the presentation of the cause
before the Supreme Court. In every criminal case appealed to the
Supreme Court from any court held within the territory of the
department, the attorney or his assistant shall forthwith make a report
to the Attorney-General explaining the questions of law and fact
appearing therein and the conclusions of the court. The attorney shall
make an annual report to the Attorney-General of the Philippine Islands
as to the condition of public and private litigation in the courts
throughout the department.
The department attorney shall be ex officio register of deeds for the
department, and shall give a bond to the Government of the Philippine
Islands in the amount to be fixed by the Insular Auditor: Provided,
However, That the administrative council may authorize the appointment,
of a deputy register of deeds who shall give a bond to the Government
of the Philippine Islands in an amount to be fixed by the Insular
Auditor and shall perform the duties of register of deeds for the
department.
In addition to the foregoing the department attorney and his assistant
shall perform such duties as are enjoined upon provincial fiscals by
section twenty-three hereof.
Sec. 11. The department delegate. — The department
delegate shall have the following qualifications, duties, and
compensation:
(a) Qualifications. — He shall be qualified elector
of a province organized under this Act, and not less than twenty-five
years of age.
(b) Term of office. — He shall discharge his duties
during a term of not more than two years after appointment unless
sooner removed for cause or until his successor be appointed and
qualified: Provided, That whenever during said term the office of
department delegate become vacant by reason of death, removal,
resignation, or other cause, the vacancy shall be filled in the manner
provided in section five hereof: And Provided Further, That any vacancy
occurring in this office, except through expiration of term, shall be
filled for the unexpired portion of the term only.
(c) Residence; duties. — It shall not be necessary
for the department delegate to reside at the capital of the department
or to establish an office in the capital, but he shall be required to
be present at the sessions of the administrative council and to perform
his duties as a member thereof: Provided, However, That said department
delegate shall perform such ministerial duties as may, by resolution of
the administrative council, upon request of the department governor, be
required of him.
(d) Compensation. — The department delegate shall
receive a compensation, to be fixed by resolution of the administrative
council, of not more than twenty-five pesos for each day of actual
attendance at the sessions of the council. When designated to perform
other official duties as above provided, said department delegate shall
be entitled upon resolution of the administrative council to receive
for each day that he shall be occupied with official duties such
compensation as may be fixed in said resolution, within the limitations
hereinbefore prescribed: Provided, That on no one day shall more than
one compensation be allowed to such department delegate.
Sec. 12. Superintendent of reformatories. — There
shall be a superintendent of reformatories, under the supervision of
the Director of Prisons, who shall have the direction and control of
the prison and penal farm at San Ramon and of all prisons and prisoners
within the department. It shall be his duty to make such regulations
and prescribe such rules, by and with the approval of the Director of
Prisons, as may best promote discipline in all prisons and penal
settlements within the department and best secure the reformation and
safe custody of all prisoners irrespective of their classification
under Act Numbered Four hundred thirteen: Provided, However, That the
powers and duties of the Director of Prisons in the department shall be
vested temporarily in the department governor until such time as the
Governor-General by executive order may authorize the Director of
Prisons to exercise such powers and perform such duties in the
Department of Mindanao and Sulu or any part or parts thereof.
ARTICLE 4
ACCOUNTS AND FINANCE
Sec. 13. Department treasurer; duties and powers.
— The department treasurer shall:
(a) Financial officer. — Act as chief financial
officer of the department.
(b) Supervision over provincial treasurers. —
Exercise general supervision over the offices of all provincial
treasurers and whenever he thinks the bond of any provincial treasurer
either too small in amount or of insufficient security he shall call
the attention of the Insular Auditor to the same, who may then require
a new or an additional bond.
(c) Assessment. — Supervise the appraisement and
assessment by the department assessor and his deputies of all property
in the department required by law to be assessed for taxation.
(d) Collections. — Supervise the collection of the
public revenues, by the provincial treasurer and other authorized
agents.
(e) Custodian of funds. — Act as custodian of all the
funds deposited in the treasury and shall account for all moneys
received into or taken out of the treasury in accordance with law and
administrative regulations.
(f) Supplies, and so forth, purchase of . — Purchase
all supplies for the use of department, provincial, and municipal
governments, upon the order of the proper administrative officer, under
such rules and regulations as the administrative council may prescribe.
(g) Property officer. — Keep a property account in
which he shall charge departmental, provincial, or municipal officers
with the furniture or other personal property delivered to them and
held or used by them for public purposes.
(h) Purchasing Agent. — Make his purchases of
supplies through the Purchasing Agent, except when otherwise authorized
by the governor.
(i) Internal revenue. — Act as collector of internal
revenue for the Department of Mindanao and Sulu, under the executive
supervision of the Insular Collector of Internal Revenue: Provided,
However, That in any event all collections derived from taxation within
the territory of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu shall be covered
into the treasury of the department for the benefit of the general
funds thereof: And Provided Further, That the proceeds of the forestry
taxes due on forest products cut in the department, whether collected
within or beyond the limits of the department, shall accrue to the
department treasury: And Provided Further, That beginning January
first, nineteen hundred and fifteen, and thereafter, all internal
revenue collected in the Department of Mindanao and Sulu shall be
deposited in the Insular Treasury to be distributed in accordance with
general laws.
(j) Control over various offices. — Exercise
supervision and control over the offices of department assessor and
superintendent of markets, which shall be considered as divisions in
the office of the department treasurer, and over such other offices as
the administrative council may hereafter provide.
(k) Other duties. — Discharge such other lawful
duties as the department governor may require of him.
Sec. 14. Auditor. — There shall be a district
auditor assigned to the department who shall perform the duty of
department auditor under the administrative jurisdiction and control of
the Insular Auditor. He shall examine, audit, and settle all accounts
pertaining to the revenues and receipts from whatever source of the
department or any of its sub-divisions and shall audit in accordance
with law and administrative regulations all expenditures of funds or
property pertaining to or held in trust by said department and
political subdivisions thereof.
The auditor herein provided shall receive a salary of six thousand
pesos per annum and is hereby authorized to use as a distinctive title
and to affix to his official signature the words "department auditor."
ARTICLE 5
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
Sec. 15. Superintendent of schools. — There shall
be detailed to the department a superintendent of schools who shall be
under the general supervision of the Director of Education and his
duties and powers shall include those prescribed for division
superintendents of schools under Act Numbered Seventy-four, as amended:
Provided, However, That the powers and duties of the Director of
Education in the Department of Mindanao and Sulu shall be vested
temporarily in the superintendent of schools subject to the control of
the department governor until such time as the Governor-General by
executive order may authorize the Director of Education to exercise
such powers and perform such duties in the Department of Mindanao and
Sulu or any part or parts thereof.
(a) Curriculum. — The superintendent of schools
herein provided shall fix a curriculum for primary, industrial,
intermediate, and secondary schools, varying the same for different
schools and different localities in accordance with the peculiar
conditions prevailing therein.
(b) Languages, teaching of . — The basis of
instruction in the public schools shall be the English language, but,
where local conditions demand it, the superintendent of schools may
temporarily authorize the use of any other language or dialect.
(c) Division superintendents. — The superintendent of
schools may appoint in each province a division superintendent of
schools who shall exercise such powers and perform such duties as may
be expressly delegated to him by the superintendent of schools.
(d) General laws. — The general provisions of law
concerning public instruction now in force in the provinces organized
under Act Numbered Eighty-three and in the municipalities organized
under Act Numbered Eighty-two shall apply to the Department of Mindanao
and Sulu, except as herein otherwise provided.
ARTICLE 6
PUBLIC SAFETY
Sec. 16. Chief health officer. — There shall be
detailed to the department a chief health officer who shall be under
the general supervision of the Director of Health and his duties and
powers shall include those prescribed for district health officers
under Act Fourteen hundred and eighty-seven, and the laws amendatory
thereof: Provided, However, That the powers and duties of the Director
of Health in the Department of Mindanao and Sulu shall be vested
temporarily in the chief health officer subject to the control of the
department governor until such time as the Governor-General by
executive order may authorize the Director of Health to exercise such
powers and duties in the Department of Mindanao and Sulu or any part or
parts thereof.
The general provisions of law concerning public health, now in force in
the provinces organized under Act Numbered Eighty-three and in the
municipalities organized under Act Numbered Eighty-two shall apply to
the Department of Mindanao and Sulu, except as otherwise herein
provided.
Sec. 17. District chief of Constabulary; duties
and powers. — The district chief of Constabulary at Zamboanga in charge
of the Constabulary in the Department of Mindanao and Sulu shall
discharge his duties under the supervision of the Chief of
Constabulary, subject to such special control by the department
governor as has been hereinbefore provided. The Constabulary force
shall be supported by funds appropriated from the Insular Treasury in
like manner as the Constabulary force in the other parts of the Islands
is supported.
He shall exercise such authority and perform such duties in connection
with the municipal police as may be required by law.
In case the revenues of a municipality do not allow of its organizing,
maintaining, and equipping its municipal police in accordance with the
provisions of this Act, the department governor may authorize the
payment of the necessary sum from provincial funds.
ARTICLE 7
PUBLIC WORKS
Sec. 18. Engineer. — There shall be detailed to
the department a senior supervising engineer who shall be under the
general supervision of the Director of Public Works and his duties and
powers shall include those prescribed for district engineers under Act
Numbered Fourteen hundred one, and the laws amendatory thereof:
Provided, However, That the powers and duties of the Director of Public
Works in the Department of Mindanao and Sulu shall be vested
temporarily in the senior supervising engineer subject to the control
of the department governor until such time or times as the
Governor-General by executive order may authorize the Director of
Public Works to exercise such powers and perform such duties in the
Department of Mindanao and Sulu or any part or parts thereof.
(a) Road construction, and so forth. — By agreement
with the president of each municipality, he shall fix the territory
within which the duty of repairing, constructing, and maintaining
roads, bridges, culverts, and ferries shall fall upon the municipal
government, and that in which such duty shall fall upon the provincial
government or the department as the case may be, and in the event of
any disagreement the issue shall be settled by the department governor
whose decision shall be final: Provided, However, That in case two or
more municipalities of a province fail to agree, the controversy shall
be decided by the provincial board. From the decision of the board an
appeal may be taken to the department governor.
(b) General laws. — The general provisions of law
concerning public works, now in force in the provinces organized under
Act Numbered Eighty-three and in the municipalities organized under Act
Numbered Eighty-two shall apply to the Department of Mindanao and Sulu:
Provided, However, That prior to December thirty-first, nineteen
hundred fourteen, or until such time as the Department of Mindanao and
Sulu shall participate in the regular Insular allotment of road and
bridge funds on the same basis as the provinces organized under Act
Numbered Eighty-three, the Insular surcharge on public works shall not
be collected on the public works of the said department.
CHAPTER II
THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS
ARTICLE 8
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
Sec. 19. The provinces. — A civil provincial
government is hereby established for the following provinces, within
the territory of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu, to wit:
(a) Agusan Province. — The Province of Agusan shall
consist of the territory now known as the Province of Agusan, excluding
only the sub province of Bukidnon.
(b) Bukidnon Province. — The Province of Bukidnon
shall consist of the territory now known as sub province of Bukidnon.
(c) Cotabato Province. — The Province of Cotabato
shall consist of the territory now known as the district of Cotabato.
(d) Davao Province. — The Province of Davao shall
consist of the territory now known as the district of Davao.
(e) Lanao Province. — The Province of Lanao shall
consist of the territory now known as the district of Lanao.
(f) Sulu Province. — The Province of Sulu shall
consist of the territory now known as the district of Sulu.
(g) Zamboanga Province. — The Province of Zamboanga
shall consist of the territory now known as the district of Zamboanga.
The provinces herein provided shall preserve their present boundaries
and seats of government, except as provided in paragraph (m) of section
eight hereof.
Sec. 20. Corporate powers. — Every provincial
government established under this chapter shall be a body corporate,
with power to sue and be sued, to have and use a corporate seal, to
hold and, with the approval of the department governor, to purchase and
convey real property, to purchase and convey personal property, to make
contracts for labor and material needed in the construction of duly
authorized public works, and to incur such other obligations as are
expressly authorized by law.
ARTICLE 9
PROVINCIAL OFFICERS
Sec. 21. Officers and employees; duties in
general. — All provincial officers and employees shall be subject to
the following provisions:
(a) Oath of office. — Provincial officers shall,
before entering on the duties thereof, take and subscribe to the
following oath, which shall be filed with the provincial
secretary-treasurer and be by him recorded:
"I, ________________________
having been _______________ (appointed or elected as the case may be)
to the office of _________________, of the Province of
_________________ do hereby solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will well
and truly perform all the duties of said office; that I will faithfully
account for all moneys coming into my hands as such officer; that I
will bear true faith and allegiance to the Government of the United
States; that I take this oath without any mental reservation
whatsoever. So help me God."
(In case of affirmation the last four words shall be omitted.)
This oath and all oaths required in connection with the administration
of the provincial government may be administered by any officer
authorized to administer oaths, and no fee shall be charged therefor.
(b) Appointments. — Provincial officers and
employees, unless otherwise provided for in this Act, shall be
appointed in accordance with the provisions of the civil-service law
and rules. There shall be as many employees as may be provided for in
the appropriations of the provincial board, subject to the approval of
the department governor.
(c) Retiring officers; transfer to successors. —
Every retiring provincial officer shall deliver to his successor in
office, who shall receipt for the same in duplicate, all property,
books, and effects of every description in his possession, belonging to
the province, or pertaining to his office. One copy of the receipt
shall be delivered to the retiring officer, and the other copy shall be
filed with the provincial secretary-treasurer. Any violation of this
subsection, after trial and conviction by a competent court, shall be
punished with a fine of not exceeding two hundred pesos.
(d) Additional powers and duties. — Every provincial
officer shall in addition to the powers and duties in this Act
expressly imposed and granted have such further powers and perform such
further duties as may by legislation now existing or hereafter enacted
by prescribed.
(e) Temporary appointments. — In case of suspension
or absence of any provincial officer, the department governor shall
have power to appoint a person to perform the duties of the office
during such absence or suspension, unless otherwise expressly provided
by law.
(f) Traveling expenses. — The actual and necessary
traveling expenses of provincial officers and employees engaged in
traveling in the province or outside thereof on official business shall
be paid from the provincial treasury. The same limitations now or
hereafter prescribed by law as to the amount of per diems which applies
to the traveling expenses of the provincial officers and employees
shall apply to those herein authorized.
Sec. 22. Provincial officers, in general. ——
Except as hereinafter provided, the officers of each provincial
government organized under this chapter shall be a provincial governor,
a provincial secretary-treasurer, and a third member of the provincial
board. With the exception of the third member, residence in the capital
of provinces shall be mandatory for members of the provincial board.
(a) Qualifications. — No person shall be appointed
nor shall be eligible for any of these offices who is not either a
citizen of the United States or a native of the Philippine Islands, or
who, not being a subject or a citizen of any other power or government,
may have under and by virtue of the treaty of Paris acquired the
political rights of a native of the Philippine Islands; or who may
hereafter become a naturalized citizen of the Philippine Islands; or
who, having taken the oath of allegiance to the United States, shall
violate the same. The fact of nonresidence in the province shall not be
a bar to appointment to a provincial office or employment.
(b) Appointment. — The provincial governor shall be
appointed by the department governor subject to the approval of the
Governor-General; the secretary-treasurer shall be appointed by the
department governor subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Act;
and the third member shall be elected by a plurality of the votes of
all the councilors of municipalities duly organized and such officers
in municipal districts, within the province, as may be authorized to
vote in accordance with the provisions of section fifty-two hereof.
(c) Election. — Within one year after the completion
and publication of the census for the territory known as the Department
of Mindanao and Sulu, under the provisions of Act Numbered Twenty-three
hundred and fifty-two, or as soon thereafter as the department governor
shall certify to the Governor-General that existing conditions in all
or any of the provinces herein created justify the holding of such
election, the Governor-General shall, by executive order, fix the date
for a general election for the offices of provincial governor and third
member of the provincial board for the province or provinces certified
to by the department governor, in accordance with the provisions of Act
Numbered Fifteen hundred and eighty-two as amended.
(d) Salaries. — Provincial governors shall each
receive an annual salary not to exceed six thousand pesos and
provincial secretary-treasurers an annual salary not to exceed five
thousand pesos, said salaries to be fixed by the department governor in
the appointment and approved by the Governor-General with the
appointment. The third member of the provincial board shall receive a
compensation to be fixed by resolution of the provincial board of not
less than five nor more than fifteen pesos for each day of actual
attendance at the sessions of the board or for other duties he may be
designated by the provincial board to perform: Provided, However, That
on no one day shall more than one compensation be allowed to such third
member.
Provincial health officers shall each receive an annual salary not
exceeding five thousand pesos, to be fixed by the department governor
in the appointment and approved by the Governor-General with the
appointment: Provided, However, That provincial health officers shall
not be permitted to engage in private practice.
The salaries of provincial officers shall be paid out of provincial
funds: Provided, However, That the salaries herein provided shall be
modified to conform with the general schedule of salaries prescribed
for regularly organized provinces as soon as general provincial
elections are held in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (c)
of section twenty-two hereof.
Sec. 23. The provincial fiscal. — There shall be a
provincial fiscal who shall be the chief legal adviser of the province,
and who shall have the following general powers and duties:
(a) Civil cases. — He shall represent the province
and municipalities thereof in all civil cases now pending or hereafter
brought in any court wherein the province or any of its political
subdivisions, or any officer thereof, in his official capacity, is a
party.
(b) Drafting of public documents. — He shall, when
required, draw ordinance, contracts, bonds, leases, and other
instruments involving any interest of the province or political
subdivisions thereof, and inspect and pass upon any such instruments
already drawn.
(c) Opinions. — He shall give his opinion in writing
when requested by the provincial board, or any provincial officer, upon
any question relating to the province or the rights or duties of any
provincial officer, and he shall also act as legal adviser of each
municipality or other political subdivisions of the province and shall
upon request of any such officer submit in writing his opinion upon any
question properly arising in the discharge of their public duties.
(d) Investigation of negligence or misconduct. — He
shall, whenever it is brought to his knowledge that any municipal
officer is guilty of criminal neglect or misconduct in office, or that
any person, firm, or corporation holding or exercising any franchise or
public privilege from any municipality of the province, has failed to
comply with any condition, or to pay any consideration mentioned in the
grant of such franchise or privilege, investigate or cause to be
investigated the same and report to the municipal president through the
provincial board.
(e) Prosecutions. — He shall have charge of the
prosecution of all crimes and misdemeanors, and also of violations of
municipal ordinances appealed to, or brought before, the Court of First
Instance of the province.
(f) Special counsel. — In cases where the interest of
any municipality and the provincial government are opposed, he shall
act on behalf of the provincial government and the municipality may
retain special counsel. He shall also represent each municipality of
his province in all litigation pending for or against the said
municipality in any court except where two municipalities are adverse
parties to the same litigation, and in cases arising under Act Thirteen
hundred and seventy-six, in all of which cases the municipalities may
employ special counsel.
(g) Criminal investigations. — He shall investigate
all charges of crimes, and prepare the necessary informations or make
the necessary complaints against the persons accused, and discharge all
other duties in respect to criminal prosecution enjoined upon
provincial fiscals in the general provincial government Act and the
Code of Criminal Procedure, as amended.
(h) Taking of evidence. — He may, if he deems it
wise, conduct investigations in respect to crimes, misdemeanors, and
violations of municipal ordinances by taking oral evidence of reputable
witnesses and for this purpose may, by subpoena summon witnesses to
appear and testify under oath before him, and the attendance and
evidence of an absent or recalcitrant witness may be enforced by
application to the justice of the peace court or the Court of First
Instance of the province.
(i) Suits on bonds, and so forth. — He shall, when
requested by the provincial board or municipal council, institute and
prosecute on behalf of the province or municipality concerned a suit on
any bond, lease, or other contract and upon any breach or violation
thereof.
Sec. 24. The provincial health officer. — There
shall be a provincial health officer under the supervision and control
of the chief health officer who shall have the following general powers
and duties:
(a) Supervision. — He shall have general supervision
over the health and sanitary condition of the province, and political
subdivisions thereof.
(b) Laws and ordinances. — He shall execute and
enforce all laws, ordinances, and regulations relating to the public
health.
(c) Recommendations. — He shall recommend to the
municipal and district councils the passage of such ordinances as he
may deem necessary for the preservation of the public health.
(d) Prosecution. — He shall cause to be prosecuted
all violations of sanitary laws, ordinances, or regulations.
(e) Inspection. — He shall in person or by authorized
agents make sanitary inspection and may be aided therein by such
members of the provincial and municipal police force or of the
Philippine Constabulary as shall be designated as sanitary police by
the provincial governor, chief of police, or proper Constabulary
officer and by such sanitary inspectors as may be authorized by law.
Sec. 25. The provincial engineer. — There shall be
a provincial engineer who shall have general supervision and control
over the construction, maintenance, and repair of all public works and
permanent improvements in the province which exceed in estimated cost
the sum of five hundred pesos, and over all contracts connected with
such works.
Sec. 26. Ex officio provincial officers. — Until
otherwise provided by law or executive order of the Governor-General,
the department attorney and his assistant shall act as ex officio
provincial fiscals, and the senior supervising engineer and his
assistant shall act as ex officio provincial engineers without
additional compensation: Provided, That the traveling expenses and per
diems of the department officers herein provided while traveling as
provincial officers shall be a proper charge against the funds of the
respective provinces unless otherwise directed by the department
governor.
ARTICLE 10
THE PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE
Sec. 27. Provincial governor; duties. — The
provincial governor shall be the chief executive officer of the
province, and shall perform the following duties:
(a) Presiding officer. — He shall preside at all
meetings of the provincial board hereinafter constituted.
(b) Execution of laws. — He shall see that laws are
faithfully executed by all officers in the province.
(c) Suspension of municipal officers. — Upon the
filing of charges or upon receiving authentic information of
maladministration by any provincial employee or any officer of a
municipality of the province he may suspend such officer in accordance
with the provisions of section thirty-six hereof.
(d) Inspection of municipalities; investigations. —
He shall at least once every six months visit every municipality in the
province. While in the municipality, he shall hear all complaints made
against the conduct of any municipal officer and take suitable action
thereon.
(e) Public disorder. — Whenever in his opinion the
public interest requires it, he shall call upon the senior officer in
charge of the constabulary in the province to suppress disorder, riot,
lawless violence, or seditious conspiracy and to apprehend all
violators of law. Whenever lawless violence or seditious conspiracy and
disturbance of the public peace shall occur of so formidable character
as to be beyond the power of the local and Insular police of the
province to control or suppress, it shall be the duty of the provincial
governor to call upon the department governor for assistance.
(f) Custody of prisoners. — He shall, through a
jailer and guards to be appointed by him, have custody of all prisoners
held awaiting trial or duly sentenced to the provincial jail.
(g) Employees. — The provincial board may, by
resolution approved by the department governor, authorize the
provincial governor to appoint such assistants, clerks, and other
employees subject to the Civil Service Act as the public interests
require at salaries to be fixed in the resolution.
(h) Reports. — Not later than the fifteenth day of
January after the end of each fiscal year, he shall make a report of
the conditions of the province for the fiscal year ending December
thirty-first to the department governor, recommending therein such
measures, executive or legislative, as may to him seem best for the
betterment of the conditions in the province.
(i) Promulgation of laws and orders. — He shall make
known to the people of his province by proclamations or communications
delivered to the presidents of the various municipalities or districts
of the province, all general laws or governmental orders which concern
them.
(j) Additional duties. — Unless otherwise provided in
this Act, or inconsistent with the provisions hereof, he shall also
perform the duties devolving upon district governors under existing
legislation in force in the department at the time of the passage of
this Act.
ARTICLE 11
THE PROVINCIAL BOARD
Sec. 28. The provincial board, members of . — The
following officers of the provincial government, to wit, the governor,
the secretary-treasurer, and the third member, shall constitute the
provincial board. The provincial governor shall be the presiding
officer of the board. In the absence or disability of the provincial
governor, or if for any other reason he is unable to perform his
official duties, the duties of the provincial governor shall be
performed by the provincial secretary-treasurer. Copies of all the
resolutions of the provincial board and executive orders of the
provincial governor shall be furnished the department governor under
such regulations as he may prescribe.
Sec. 29. The provincial secretary. — The
provincial secretary-treasurer shall be the recorder of the provincial
board shall attest all the official acts of the provincial government
under the seal of the province and shall record all those of the
governor's acts which are required by law to be recorded, except when
acting as provincial governor, in which case a clerk of the provincial
board shall attest the official acts of the provincial governor. He
shall be the custodian of the provincial seal and shall receive from
the provincial governor and file in his office all reports to the
provincial governor required by law and shall index the same. He shall
on demand furnish certified copies of all public records and documents
under his custody for which he may charge, to any private person, but
not to any public official needing the same for a public purpose, the
amount of ten centavos for every one hundred words of such copy,
including the certificate, which amount shall accrue to the provincial
treasury.
Sec. 30. Duties and powers of the provincial
board. — It shall be the duty and within the power of the provincial
board:
(a) Appropriations. — To appropriate moneys from any
of its funds, except those the use of which is otherwise specifically
fixed by law, for other purposes having in view the general welfare of
the province and, its inhabitants.
(b) Tax levy, distribution. — To levy in its
discretion upon the real estate of the province for provincial purposes
an annual tax within the limitations prescribed by law.
(c) Provincial offices. — To provide by construction,
purchase, or renting suitable offices for the provincial officers, and
a courthouse containing a room or rooms suitable, in the opinion of the
department governor, for the holding of a court and for offices for the
court officers, and a provincial jail in the municipality fixed by law
as the capital of the province.
(d) Vault or safe. — To furnish a suitable vault or
safe to the provincial secretary-treasurer, in which he shall keep the
provincial and other public funds as long as they are in his custody,
except as hereinafter provided.
(e) Provincial building. — To assign rooms for
offices in the provincial building.
(f) Roads, bridges, and so forth. — To order, in its
discretion, the construction, repair, or maintenance of roads, bridges,
and ferries within its control, and to approve or reject contracts for
such construction and repair, and the construction and repair of
provincial buildings rented by the provincial secretary-treasurer,
subject to the approval of the senior supervising engineer.
(g) Boundary roads, bridges and so forth. — To agree
upon the recommendation of the senior supervising engineer with the
provincial board of an adjoining province on the terms within the
limitations of law, upon which roads forming the boundary between the
two provinces, and bridges and ferries crossing streams forming such
boundary, shall be constructed, repaired, or maintained under the joint
control of the two provincial governments. In the event of failure to
the two interested provinces to agree, the controversy shall be decided
by the department governor, whose decision shall be final.
(h) Suits on behalf of the province. — To direct,
subject to the approval of the department governor as provided in
section eight (k) hereof, the bringing or defense of suits on behalf of
the provincial government and to compromise the same upon the
recommendation of the provincial fiscal.
(i) Payment of salaries, debts and so forth. — To
order the monthly payment of all salaries provided by law and the
payment of all lawfully contracted indebtedness, in accordance with
such rules and regulations as the department treasurer may prescribe.
The provincial board of every province composed in part of a sub
province is authorized, subject to the approval of the department
governor, to fix or change by resolution the salaries of the lieutenant
or deputy governors of such sub-province.
(j) Cart and sledge tax. — To provide in its
discretion a tax on carts and sledges for the protection of improved
roads, subject to the approval of the department governor.
(k) Deposit of provincial funds. — To authorize the
provincial secretary-treasurer to deposit so much of the provincial
funds as may not be needed in the near future for public use in a bank
of deposit of approved standing in the Islands. All interest paid on
such deposit shall inure to the benefit of the provincial treasury, and
no funds shall be deposited in the bank by the treasurer until there
shall be spread upon the minutes of the board a resolution reciting and
approving the exact terms of the contract of deposit in the bank. The
bank shall certify the monthly balances of provincial funds held by it
to the provincial governor and to the department treasurer: Provided,
That the provincial treasurer of any province organized under this Act,
shall deposit his surplus provincial funds with the department
treasurer whenever the department treasury shall be designated as the
depository for the provincial funds of the province by the department
treasurer.
(l) Meetings. — To hold regular weekly meetings upon
a day to be fixed by the board, and special meetings upon the call of
the governor. The meetings of the board shall be open to the public.
(m) Agricultural pests. — To adopt, by resolution,
regulations for the suppression of any agricultural pest like locusts
or cattle disease, to post the same in five conspicuous places in each
pueblo, to provide for enforcement of same by fixing penalty for their
violation not exceeding two hundred pesos fine or thirty days'
imprisonment, and to appropriate from the provincial treasury the
necessary expenses in organizing the temporary force of employees
needed to enforce regulations and in paying costs of prosecutions
before justices of the peace.
(n) Hours of labor. — To adopt rules regulating the
hours of employment of the subordinates in the various provincial
offices, subject to the approval of the administrative council.
(o) Provincial seal. — To provide a seal for the
province.
(p) School buildings, construction, and so forth. —To
provide, if deemed expedient by the provincial board, by construction,
purchase, or renting, such school building or buildings in the province
as in the opinion of the board may be necessary, to be used for the
free secondary instruction being understood to include, in addition to
academic and commercial subjects, manual training, instruction in
agriculture, and normal-school instruction, and to provide for the
payment of all expenses of maintaining such public school or schools of
secondary instruction as may be established in the province, and the
schools in their establishment and conduct shall be subject to the
general supervision and control of the superintendent of schools in
accordance with the provisions of section fifteen hereof: Provided,
That temporarily and until such time as the department governor shall
decide that the condition of finances of the province will justify for
the future the payment of the salaries of teachers and the expense of
supplies and equipment for secondary schools from the provincial
treasury, such salaries and expense may be borne by the department:
Provided, Further, That if for any reason a province is not prepared to
establish a secondary or high school, the provincial board of such
province may provide from the provincial funds for the payment of the
tuition, in a high school in any other province or in the city of
Manila, of such pupils as may wish to enter such high school and are
declared by the proper school authorities to be especially fitted and
qualified to receive secondary instruction.
(q) Allowance for students under certain conditions.
— To appropriate from the general funds of the province, not otherwise
appropriated, the amount necessary for one or two permanent allowances
at a rate of not exceeding forty pesos a month each for one or two
students in the University of the Philippines or in any governmental
educational institution beyond the limits of the province, for such
purposes and under such conditions as are prescribed in Act Numbered
Twenty-one hundred forty-six.
(r) Loans to municipalities. — To appropriate, in its
discretion, moneys from any of its funds in excess of all just debts
and liabilities falling due within the fiscal year, except those funds
the use of which is otherwise specifically fixed by law, for loans to
municipalities or districts of the province under such conditions as to
the use of the funds loaned and as to the repayment of the loans with
interest at three per centum per annum as may be fixed by the
provincial board.
(s) Employees injured in line of duty. — To provide,
in its discretion, for the payment from provincial funds of their
regular compensation during the period of their disability, not
exceeding ninety days, to unclassified employees of the provincial
government, including laborers, when said employees or laborers are
injured in the line of duty, the necessary expenses of medical
attendance, transportation, and hospital fees for such injured
employees or laborers, and in case of their death from said injuries,
their reasonable burial expenses and a donation in money to the family
of the deceased employee or laborer in a sum not exceeding ninety days'
pay.
(t) Salaries in municipal capitals. — To authorize
municipal councils of the capitals of provinces and sub provinces to
fix the salaries of the municipal officers of said capitals at an
amount higher than that authorized in the scale established in chapter
three hereof according to the class of the municipality, and to exempt
capitals of provinces from compliance with any provision of law which
restricts the power of a municipal council in the free disposition of
their own funds.
(u) Land and cedula tax, extension of payment. — To
extend by resolution, whenever in its judgment the public interest
requires, the time for the payment of the land tax or cedula personal
tax without penalty, for a period not exceeding six months.
(v) Remission of land tax. — To remit, by a
resolution, by reason of general failure of crops or for other good and
sufficient cause, the collection of the land tax in the province in
whole or in part for a period not exceeding one year at a time:
Provided, That the department governor, in his discretion, may of his
own motion remit the collection of the land tax in any of the provinces
organized under this Act in accordance with the provisions of paragraph
(i) of section eight hereof.
(w) Increased cedula tax. — To provide by resolution,
in its discretion, for the increased cedula tax, and said resolution
shall be and remain in force and effect during the year of its adoption
and also subsequent years without further action by the board until
repealed by another resolution of said board, and perform such other
duties regarding the cedula tax as are imposed on the legislative
council of the department by Act Numbered Twenty-three hundred and
ninety-six, and subject to the conditions and provisions thereof.
(x) Approval by department governor. — No
appropriation or resolution made pursuant to the provisions of
subsections (q), (r), (s), (t), (u), (v), and (w) preceding shall be
valid or take effect until it shall have been approved by the
department governor, or unless and until thirty days after receipt of
notice thereof by the department governor shall have passed without the
disapproval of the department governor having been given.
(y) Offices and equipment for certain officers. — To
provide and equip by construction, purchase, or renting suitable
offices for the following officers, in addition to such provincial
officers herein expressly provided, to wit, district auditor, division
superintendent of schools, and observer for the Weather Bureau, and
such other officers as may be authorized to render service in
connection with the provincial governments herein established.
(z) Surveys and examinations. —To order, in its
discretion, the execution by the senior supervising engineer at
provincial expense of such minor surveys and examinations as may be
necessary to determine the advisability of making public improvements,
either by the provincial government, the department, or the Insular
Government, within the jurisdiction of the province: Provided, That no
survey or examination costing more than five hundred pesos Philippine
currency shall be commenced without the previous approval of the
department governor.
(aa) Provincial pound. — To provide a provincial
pound for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of Act Numbered
Eight hundred and seventy-seven.
Sec. 31. Provincial toll ferries. — Whenever for
thirty days after service of a request by the provincial board any
municipality declines or neglects to establish and maintain a suitable
system of ferries for public use, the provincial board may designate,
subject to revocation by the department governor, such ferries as
provincial toll ferries, may make appropriations from the provincial
road and bridge fund for the construction, maintenance, and operation
thereof, and may from time to time, subject to the approval of the
department governor, establish reasonable rates of tolls to be paid for
the use thereof: Provided, That officers and enlisted men and civil
employees of the United States Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, other
branches of the Federal service, and other Government officials and
employees shall be exempt from the payment of such tolls. The proceeds
from any such provincial toll ferry shall go into and become a part of
the provincial road and bridge fund of the province in which the ferry
is operated.
Whenever either the department governor or the provincial board shall
decide that the financial situation of a province is such that the
collection of tolls on any ferry may be discontinued without injury to
the welfare of the province, the department governor or the provincial
board, as the case may be, shall so order and thereafter such ferry
shall be free for public use.
It shall be unlawful for any person whatever to use any such provincial
toll ferry except as provided in this section without paying the toll
provided therefor, and any person who shall make use thereof in
violation of this section shall be punished by a fine not to exceed
fifty pesos and in default of the payment thereof shall be imprisoned
one day for each peso of fine costs unpaid.
Sec. 32. Condemnation proceedings. — The
provincial board is authorized for and in behalf of the province,
subject to the approval of the department governor, to acquire real
estate by the exercise of the right of eminent domain for school,
cemetery, and park purposes, for provincial buildings, for opening and
widening streets, for market sites, and public plazas, for the
construction of crematories, artesian wells, and drainage, water supply
and sewer systems, cesspools, wharves, and piers. The right granted in
this section shall otherwise be exercised in the manner prescribed in
Acts Numbered One hundred ninety, and Twenty-two hundred forty-nine.
Sec. 33. Convention of municipal presidents. — The
provincial board is hereby authorized, whenever in its discretion the
public good requires, to call a convention or meeting of any or all of
the municipal presidents of the province at such place and time as it
may designate, and it shall be the duty of the presidents called to
attend the same: Provided, That not less than one nor more than four
such conventions or meetings shall be called in any one year except
upon previous approval of the department governor. In case any such
convention or meeting is called for the purpose of considering or
acting on special business, the call shall so state. The actual and
necessary traveling expenses, going and returning, of the presidents
called and actually attending such meetings shall be paid out of the
provincial treasury upon approval by the provincial board, but shall
not exceed the maximum amount allowed by law for traveling expenses of
provincial officers. During the time that the municipal president is
absent for the purpose of attending any such meeting the vice-president
shall act in his place and shall receive there for out of the municipal
treasury a sum equal to the salary due the president for the same time.
The president shall also receive the salary while absent for the said
purpose.
ARTICLE 12
FINANCE
Sec. 34. Provincial secretary-treasurer; duties
and powers. — There shall be a provincial secretary-treasurer:
Provided, That the department governor may, in his discretion,
authorize the department treasurer in person or by deputies to perform,
in whole or in part, the duties devolving upon the provincial
secretary-treasurer, without extra compensation: And Provided Further,
That the traveling expenses of the department treasurer or his deputies
when acting as provincial secretary-treasurers, shall be a proper
charge against the funds of the respective provinces. The
secretary-treasurer shall be the chief financial officer of the
province, and his duties shall be as follows:
(a) Assessment of property. — He shall keep on file a
copy of the tax assessment list of all real property in the province in
his office, and shall make an alphabetical index thereof, which list
and alphabetical index shall be a public record.
(b) Collection of taxes. — Except where otherwise
specially provided, he shall, by himself or deputy, collect all taxes
imposed upon property or persons in the province.
(c) Appointment of clerks, deputies and so forth. —
He shall have power to appoint as many deputies or clerks in his office
as he may deem necessary, after he has obtained the approval of the
provincial board and the department treasurer. Such deputies and clerks
shall be selected under the provisions of the Civil Service Act:
Provided, That he may require any municipal treasurer to act as deputy
provincial treasurer.
(d) Custodian of funds. — He shall be the custodian
of all funds and property of the province and shall account for all
such in accordance with such rules and regulations as may be prescribed
for such treasurers.
(e) Register of certificates. — He shall keep in his
office open to inspection of any person, a register of all certificates
of registration issued in his province.
(f) Tax assessor. — He shall also act as ex officio
provincial assessor in accordance with the provisions of the general
assessment act of the department, when so designated by the department
treasurer.
(g) Account to district auditor. — The provincial
treasurer shall render such accounts as the district auditor may
require of him.
(h) Requisition of supplies; property account. —All
supplies, equipment, or property shall be purchased by him from the
department treasurer upon the order of the provincial board, for the
use of the provincial officers, except such supplies and equipment
which may be purchased in the local market at economical rates. Every
requisition shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the resolution
of the provincial board or municipal council making the necessary
appropriation to cover the cost and expenses thereof, together with a
certificate showing that there is sufficient money in the provincial or
municipal treasury to cover the cost and expenses incurred by reason of
the requisition.
(i) Mining recorder. — He shall act as mining
recorder for the province under Act Numbered Six hundred and
twenty-four.
(j) Record of licenses. — He shall keep a record,
open to public inspection, of the names of all persons paying municipal
licenses or privilege taxes, arranged alphabetically.
(k) Additional duties. — He shall perform such other
lawful duties as may be required of him by the department treasurer.
Sec. 35. Collection of provincial taxes. — The
taxes levied by order of the provincial board shall be collected at the
same time and in the same manner as taxes levied for municipal purposes
in accordance with legislation no existing or hereafter enacted and the
same procedure for appeals now or hereafter provided for municipal
taxation shall be open to a taxpayer who disputes the legality of the
provincial taxes. All the provisions of law for the assessment of the
value of taxable property, for the enforcement of the collection of
taxes and the forfeiture of property for delinquent taxes together with
the redemption of land and the remedies therein provided for alleged
unjust taxes, shall apply to the collection and enforcement of
provincial taxes, including the provision for penalties, and the
municipal and provincial taxes may be collected in one legal proceeding
in the name of the provincial treasurer for the use of the municipality
and the province.
ARTICLE 13
SUSPENSIONS AND REMOVALS
Sec. 36. Procedure in general. — The following
shall be the general procedure in removal and suspension of provincial
and municipal officers and employees:
(a) Provincial officers. — Provincial officers may be
suspended and removed for cause by the department governor in
accordance with the provisions of section eight (g) hereof. The action
of the department governor removing a provincial officer may be
reviewed by the Governor-General upon appeal filed by the respondent
officer.
(b) Provincial employees. — Provincial employees
other than officers may be suspended by the provincial governor and
removed by the majority vote of the provincial board, from whose
decision and appeal shall lie to the department governor.
(c) Municipal officers. — Municipal officers and
chiefs of police may be suspended by the provincial governor and
removed by the majority vote of the provincial board. In case of
removal, the respondent municipal officer shall be entitled to an
appeal to the department governor whose decision shall be final.
(d) Municipal employees. — Municipal employees other
than officers may be suspended by the municipal president and removed
by the majority vote of the municipal council: Provided, That clerks of
the municipal treasurer may only be suspended by the municipal
treasurer. In case of removal, the respondent municipal employee may
appeal to the provincial board whose decision shall be final.
(e) General provisions. — Whenever any provincial or
municipal officer or employee shall be suspended in accordance with the
provisions or this section, it shall be the duty of the suspending
officer not later than ten days from the day of suspension to file
written charges with the provincial board or municipal council, as the
case may be, setting forth the nature of the complaints made against
the suspended officer or employee. The board or council shall, at its
first meeting held thereafter, whether the same be a regular or special
meeting, furnish a copy of said charges to the accused officer or
employee with a notification of the time and place of the hearing upon
said charges, and at time and place of the hearing upon said charges,
and at the time and place appointed the board or council shall proceed
to hear and investigate the truth or falsity of the said charges,
giving the suspended officer or employee full opportunity to be heard.
The hearing shall occur as soon as may be practicable and in any event
not later than fifteen days from the date the accused is furnished a
copy of the charges, unless the suspended officer or employee shall, on
good and sufficient reasons, request an extension of time to prepare
his defense. The hearing before the board or council shall be public
and shall be held without any unnecessary delay, and the testimony of
the witnesses shall be taken in writing. Within thirty days after
completion of the investigation, the board or council shall render in
writing its findings as to the truth or falsity of the charges and
decide whether or not the accused shall be dismissed from the service
or punished by suspension not to exceed six months. From the decision
of the board or council the respondent officer or employee shall be
entitled to an appeal as hereinbefore prescribed, if the appeal is
filed within fifteen days after receipt by such respondent officer or
employee of the findings and decision of the board or council.
Immediately upon receipt of notice of such appeal the board or council
shall transmit the record containing the charges, evidence taken,
findings, and decision in the case to the authority empowered to decide
the appeal. In case the suspended officer or employee is ordered
reinstated, payment may be ordered of his salary for the time of his
suspension, but in no case shall payment of salary during the period of
suspension be made to a suspended officer or employee who has been
reinstated, unless such payment is expressly ordered to be made by the
department governor.
(f) Special powers of department governor. — The
provisions of this section shall not be construed to deprive the
department governor of the power to investigate on his own motion, and
for cause to suspend any officer or employee of the department or
political subdivision thereof, and, with the consent and approval of
the administrative council, remove such officer or employee.
CHAPTER III
THE MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS
ARTICLE 14
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 37. Municipal corporations. — The provincial
board of any province established under this Act may by resolution,
approved by the department governor, organize any territory within the
province as a municipality in accordance with the provisions of this
chapter.
(a) Municipalities excepted. — Municipalities
established within the Department of Mindanao and Sulu previous to the
passage of this Act are continued and recognized as municipal
corporations unless otherwise reorganized in accordance with the
provisions of this Act.
(b) Names and corporate powers. — Municipalities
organized hereunder shall be known by names heretofore adopted, unless
otherwise specifically stated in the resolution of the provincial board
approved by the department governor. Under such names they may sue and
be sued, contract and be contracted with, acquire and hold real and
personal property for the general interests of the municipality, and
exercise all the powers hereinafter conferred upon them.
(c) Division into barrios. — Each municipality shall
be divided into barrios. For the purpose of the first elections,
existing barrios shall be recognized, unless expressly readjusted by
resolution of the provincial board creating the municipality, which
resolution shall fix the capital thereof.
(d) Classification. — Municipalities of the first
class shall be those which contain not less than twenty-five thousand
inhabitants: Provided, However, That a municipality which is also the
seat of a provincial government shall be considered as a first-class
municipality regardless of the number of its inhabitants; of the
second-class, those containing eighteen thousand and less than
twenty-five thousand inhabitants; of the third class, those containing
ten thousand and less than eighteen thousand inhabitants; of the fourth
class, those containing less than ten thousand inhabitants.
(e) Department governor determines classification. —
In case of controversy the department governor shall determine to which
class a municipality shall belong.
Sec. 38. Municipal salaries. — The president and
municipal secretary shall receive such salaries as the council shall
fix; the salary of the municipal treasurer shall be fixed by the
provincial board: Provided, That the municipal treasurer may also act
as a deputy of the provincial treasurer and receive such additional
compensation therefor, to be paid from provincial funds, as the
provincial board may fix and the department governor approve. Salaries
shall not exceed the following rates:
(a) Municipalities, first-class. — In cases of
municipalities of the first class: For president, one thousand two
hundred pesos; for municipal secretary, eight hundred pesos; and for
municipal treasurer, nine hundred pesos.
(b) Municipalities, second-class. — In cases of
municipalities of the second class: For president, one thousand pesos;
for municipal secretary, five hundred pesos; and for the municipal
treasurer, six hundred pesos.
(c) Municipalities, third-class. — In cases of
municipalities of the third class: For president, eight hundred pesos;
for municipal secretary, four hundred pesos; and for municipal
treasurer, four hundred pesos.
(d) Municipalities, fourth-class. — In cases of
municipalities of the fourth class: For president, six hundred pesos;
for municipal secretary, three hundred pesos, and for municipal
treasurer, three hundred pesos.
(e) Salary of acting president. — The salary of the
president, during the period when the vice-president or a councilor
performs the duties of president, shall be drawn by the vice-president
or the councilor performing such duties.
(f) Honorary offices. — The vice-president and the
councilors, except when serving as president, shall receive no
compensation, their offices being honorary: Provided, However, That
with the approval of the provincial board first had, the municipal
council is authorized to fix the rate or rates for reimbursement of
actual and necessary traveling expenses incurred by the vice-president
and councilors in attending sessions of the council.
(g) Municipal treasurer as secretary; additional
compensation. — Whenever the municipal treasurer shall, in addition to
the regular duties of his office, perform the duty of municipal
secretary in accordance with section forty-five hereof, the municipal
council shall fix the extra compensation which he shall receive
therefor: Provided, That in no case shall the total salary received by
the municipal treasurer from municipal funds exceed the limit fixed by
law for salaries of municipal presidents, except as hereinafter
provided. The eligibility of a municipal treasurer for his office shall
be sufficient qualification for his performance of the duties of
municipal secretary in accordance with the provisions of this paragraph.
(h) Maximum salary inadequate, may be raised. — When
by reason of exceptional circumstances, the maximum salary herein
authorized for any nonelective municipal officer is found by the
provincial board to be inadequate, that board may fix and the
department governor approve such higher rate as may be necessary to
secure and retain the services of a competent appointee, and such
salary shall be paid from the funds of the municipality concerned,
other provisions of this Act to the contrary notwithstanding.
Sec. 39. Government, how vested. — The government
of each municipality established under this chapter is hereby vested in
a president, a vice-president, and one representative from each barrio
of the municipality who shall be designated as councilor.
The president, until otherwise provided by law, shall be appointed by
the provincial governor subject to the approval of the department
governor. The vice-president shall be chosen at large by the qualified
electors of the municipality; the councilor of each barrio shall be
chosen by the qualified electors of the barrio.
ARTICLE 15
MUNICIPAL OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES
Sec. 40. Nonelective officers. — There shall be in
each municipality a secretary, a treasurer, and such other nonelective
officers and employees as the council shall deem necessary and provide
for and the provincial board shall authorize: Provided, That in
municipalities where the provincial board may deem it necessary for
purposes of economy, the board may by resolution provide that the
duties of municipal secretary and municipal treasurer shall be
performed by one officer who shall be known as the municipal
secretary-treasurer and who shall be appointed in the manner
hereinafter prescribed for the municipal treasurer.
Sec. 41. Municipal officers and employees in
general. — All municipal officers and employees shall be subject to the
following provisions:
(a) Oath of office. — Municipal officers shall,
before entering on the duties thereof, take and subscribe to the
following oath, which shall be filed with the municipal secretary and
be by him recorded:
"I, _______________________,
having been as ____________________ of the municipality of
___________________ in the Province of _____________, do solemnly swear
(or affirm) that I have the prescribed qualifications to hold office in
said municipality; that I recognize and accept the supreme authority of
the United States of America and will maintain true faith and
allegiance thereto; that I will obey the laws, legal orders, and
decrees promulgated by its duly constituted authorities; that I impose
upon myself this obligation voluntarily, without mental reservation or
purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the
duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.
(Last four words to be stricken out in case of affirmation.)
______________________
(Signature of officer.)
"Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me this _____________ day
of ________________ 19____."
Such oaths shall be filed in the office of the municipal
secretary.
This oath and all oaths required in connection with the administration
of the municipal government may be administered by any officer
authorized to administer oaths, or by any municipal officer appointed
or elected under this Act, and no fee shall be charged therefor.
(b) Term of office. — All appointive officers and
employees shall hold office during good behavior.
(c) Retiring officers; transfer to successors. —
Every retiring municipal officer shall deliver to his successor in
office, who shall receipt for the same in duplicate, all property,
books, and effects of every description in his possession belonging to
the municipality or pertaining to his office. One copy of the receipt
shall be delivered to the retiring officer and the other copy shall be
filed with the municipal treasurer. Any violation of this paragraph
shall be punished with a fine not exceeding two hundred pesos upon
conviction by a competent court.
(d) Additional powers and duties. — Every municipal
officer shall, in addition to the powers and duties in this Act
expressly imposed and granted, have such further powers and perform
such further duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.
Sec. 42. Qualifications. — Municipal officers and
employees shall have the following qualifications in general:
(a) President, vice-president, and councilors. — A
president, vice-president, or councilor shall have the qualifications
prescribed by law for elective municipal officers: Provided, That in
the case of an appointive municipal president it will be sufficient if
he is a duly-qualified elector of the province.
(b) Secretary. — A secretary shall be able to read,
write, and speak intelligently a local dialect generally understood in
the municipality, and the Spanish or English language.
(c) Ecclesiastics, soldiers, and so forth. — In no
case shall there be elected or appointed to a municipal office
ecclesiastics; soldiers in active service; persons receiving salaries
from provincial, departmental, or Insular funds; those who are
delinquent in the payment of public taxes assessed after September
fourteenth, nineteen hundred and five; or contractors for public works
within the province.
ARTICLE 16
THE MUNICIPAL EXECUTIVE
Sec. 43. The municipal president. — The municipal
president shall be the chief executive officer of the municipality and
shall have the following general powers and duties:
(a) Observation and enforcement of laws. — He shall
take care that all laws, ordinances, regulations, and resolutions in
force in the municipality are duly observed and executed within the
jurisdiction of the municipality.
(b) Authority over municipal officers. — He shall see
that all other officers of the municipality faithfully discharge their
respective duties, and to that end may, with the approval of the
provincial governor, cause to be instituted any appropriate criminal
action or take other proceedings to bring the attention of the proper
superior officer to the derelictions of the municipality official.
(c) Recommendations to council. — He shall give to
the municipal council from time to time such information and recommend
such measures as he shall deem advantageous to the municipality.
(d) Meetings of council. — He shall preside at all
meetings of the municipal council; shall have the right to vote on
ordinances or other matters coming before the council only in the case
of a tie vote; shall sign the secretary's record of the proceedings of
each meeting of the council, at the same meeting at which same is
approved by the council; and shall sign all ordinances and resolutions.
(e) Bonds, contracts, and so forth. — He shall sign
all bonds, contracts, and obligations of the municipality, pursuant to
a resolution of the council, in each instance, unless otherwise herein
provided.
(f) Appointments. — He shall appoint, by and with the
consent of the majority of all the members of the council, the
municipal secretary, nonelective municipal officers and employees that
may be provided for by law or by ordinance with the exception of
school-teachers, the municipal treasurer, and his subordinates:
Provided, That the appointment of the municipal secretary and chief of
police shall be subject to the approval of the provincial governor.
(g) Nominations. — He shall make all nominations at
the first meeting of the council after assuming the duties of his
office except for those offices and employments in which a vacancy may
occur during his term. In case the council shall reject any of the
nominations made by him, he shall be entitled to appeal to the
provincial board whose decision shall be final. In case a vacancy
occurs in any of the above named offices during the term of office of
the president, he shall submit a nomination to the council at the first
regular meeting after the occurrence of the vacancy.
(h) Judicial proceedings. — He shall cause to be
instituted judicial proceedings to recover property and funds of the
municipality wherever found or otherwise to protect the interests of
the municipality, and shall cause to be defended all suits against the
municipality, subject to the approval of the municipal council.
(i) Public order, calamities, and so forth. — He
shall issue orders relating to the police or to public safety, and
orders for the purpose of avoiding conflagrations, floods, and the
effects of storms or other public calamities.
(j) Collection of taxes. — He shall assist the
provincial treasurer and his deputies in the collection of taxes.
(k) Judicial powers. — He shall act as ex officio
justice of the peace for the municipality in the absence of the justice
and auxiliary justice of the peace therein, subject to the provisions
and limitations of general law: Provided, That fees collected by him
while acting as justice of the peace shall be covered into the
municipal treasury.
(l) Inspections of barrios. — He shall at least once
every three months visit every barrio within the municipality.
(m) Annual report. — He shall, on or before the tenth
day of January of each year, prepare and present to the provincial
governor an annual report covering the operations of the municipal
government during the preceding fiscal year.
Sec. 44. The vice-president. — The vice-president
shall be a member of the municipal council and shall, during the
temporary absence of the president from the municipality or his
disability for any reason, discharge the duties of his office and
exercise all his powers: Provided, That in case of death, removal, or
permanent disability of the municipal president the vice-president
shall act as temporary president until a new president is appointed and
qualified.
Sec. 45. The municipal secretary. — The municipal
secretary shall have the following general powers and duties:
(a) Council meeting. — He shall act as secretary of
the municipal council, whose meetings it shall be his duty to attend.
(b) Journal of proceedings. — He shall record all
ordinances passed by the municipal council with the dates of the
passage and publication of the same.
(c) Seal. — He shall keep the corporate seal and
affix the same with his signature to all ordinances and other official
acts of the president or council.
(d) Posting. — He shall cause each ordinance passed
to be posted as herein provided.
(e) Documents, and so forth. — He shall have charge
of all records and documents of the municipality for which provision is
not otherwise made, and shall, on demand furnish certified copies of
all municipal records and documents and collect and receive therefor a
fee of ten centavos per one hundred words which shall accrue to the
municipal treasury.
(f) Civil Register. — He shall keep a civil register
as prescribed for the regularly organized municipalities.
(g) Ordinances, resolutions, and so forth. — He shall
within thirty-six hours after any session of the council or the
issuance of an executive order, forward a correct and certified copy of
each act, resolution, and ordinance passed thereat, and of every
executive order, properly numbered, to the provincial board. He shall
also, within the thirty-six hours aforesaid, forward to the provincial
treasury a copy of each act, resolution, or ordinance authorizing or
necessitating the collection of municipal revenues. He shall translate
or cause to be translated each ordinance into the dialect generally
spoken in the municipality and forward copies thereof to each municipal
councilor.
(h) Other duties. — He shall perform such other
duties as the president or council may direct.
ARTICLE 17
MUNICIPAL COUNCIL AND COUNCILORS
Sec. 46. Municipal council; duties. — There shall
be a municipal council composed of the president, vice-president, and
one councilor for each barrio.
(a) Meetings. — The council shall fix the times and
places for its regular meetings, which shall be held once in every two
weeks, and shall hold special meetings when called by the president.
Any meeting, regular or special, may, in case the amount of business
shall require, be adjourned from day to day until the business is
completed. Meetings shall be open to the public unless otherwise
ordered by an affirmative vote of a majority of its members.
(b) Rules of procedure. — It shall keep a record of
its proceedings and determine its rules of procedure not herein set
forth.
(c) Quorum. — A majority of the council shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a smaller
number may adjourn from time to time. The ayes and noes shall be taken
and recorded upon the passage of all ordinances, upon all resolutions
or motions directing the payment of money or creating liability, and,
at the request of any member, upon any other motion or resolution.
(d) Ordinances, resolutions, and so forth. — The
affirmative vote of a majority of all the members of the municipal
council shall be necessary for the passage of any ordinance or any
resolution, or motion directing the payment of money or creating
liability, but other measures shall prevail upon the majority vote of
the members present at any meeting duly called and held. Each ordinance
shall be sealed with the municipal seal, signed by the president and
municipal secretary, and duly recorded.
Each ordinance shall, on the day after its passage, be posted by the
municipal secretary at the main entrance to the municipal building and
shall take effect and be in force on and after the tenth day following
its passage, if no date is fixed in the ordinance.
(e) Passing on nominations. — At the first regular
meeting after the appointment or election and qualification of a new
president, the council shall pass on his nominations of nonelective
municipal officers and employees and shall prescribe the duties of all
appointive municipal officers and employees when not determined by this
Act or municipal ordinances.
(f) Annual report and budget. — During the month of
January of each year the council shall prepare and present to the
provincial treasurer for approval a report in itemized form and in
detail:
(1) Inventory. — An inventory of land, building, and
other property, real and personal, belonging to the municipality,
including cash in the treasury.
(2) Liabilities. — A statement of the liabilities of
the municipality.
(3) Revenues. — An estimate of the revenues of the
municipality from all sources for the ensuing fiscal year, with a
statement opposite each item of the amounts realized from such sources
during the preceding twelve months.
(4) Ordinary expenses. — An estimate of the ordinary
expenses for the ensuing fiscal year with a statement opposite each
item of the corresponding expenses during the preceding twelve months.
The estimated expenses shall not exceed the estimated resources. This
estimate shall include a statement of outstanding indebtedness, if such
exists.
(5) Extraordinary expenses. — An estimate of such
extraordinary expenditures as may be necessary for any purpose, the
approximate total expenditure recommended, and the amount which it is
expected to extend during the ensuing fiscal year; also an itemized
statement of the extraordinary expenditures during the preceding twelve
months.
(6) Additional estimate. — Expenses not provided for
in the annual estimate can be incurred and paid only after the approval
of an additional estimate therefor in the manner provided in this
section.
The report and budget herein provided for may be modified from time to
time and shall be in such form as may be prescribed by the provincial
treasurer. In case the council is dissatisfied with the action of the
provincial treasurer disapproving any item or items of the budget an
appeal may be taken to the provincial board whose decision shall be
final.
(g) Vacancies. — The provincial governor, with the
advice and consent of the provincial board, shall fill temporary
vacancies in the office of vice president, or municipal councilor, and
whenever a president, vice president, or councilor is suspended shall
appoint some person to discharge his duties until he is reinstated or
until he is removed and the vacancy thus occasioned is filled. Whenever
the election of an elective municipal officer shall have resulted in a
failure to elect, or in the event of the death of a municipal
officer-elect, prior to his taking office, or whenever any municipal
officer-elect shall, for any reason, fail to qualify, the provincial
board shall appoint a duly qualified elector of the municipality to
fill the vacancy until his successor shall have been duly elected and
shall have qualified for the subsequent term.
(h) Provincial board, supervision by. — The
provincial board shall approve or disapprove any act, ordinance, or
resolution, orders of the municipal council, and executive order of the
municipal president: Provided, However, That all health ordinances
shall be subject to the approval of the chief health officer as
provided in chapter one hereof. Any attempt to enforce such act,
ordinance, resolution, or executive order, after the disapproval or
suspension thereof, shall be brought to the attention of the municipal
council, shall be sufficient ground for the dismissal of the officer or
officers attempting to enforce the same. Should the council or the
president be dissatisfied with the decision of the provincial board, an
appeal may be taken by it or him to the department governor, who shall
decide the same question which was presented to the provincial board
and either affirm or reverse the decision of the provincial board. If
the decision of the provincial board is affirmed, the act, ordinance,
resolution, or executive order involved shall be null and void. If,
however, he shall reverse the decision of the provincial board, then
and in that case notice of his decision shall be given to the
provincial board and to the council of the municipality appealing, and
upon receipt of notice by the appellant, the act, ordinance,
resolution, or executive order shall be revived and come into force
again. Pending the decision on appeal from a decision of the provincial
board annulling any act, ordinance, resolution, or executive order, the
same shall have no force and effect. Nothing in this subsection shall
be construed to deprive any judicial tribunal of power to hold void for
want of statutory authority any act, ordinance, or resolution of a
municipal council or executive order of a municipal president, the
validity of which shall be involved in any cause arising before such
tribunals without respect to the decision of the executive authorities.
Sec. 47. The municipal council; powers. — The
municipal council shall have power by ordinance or resolution:
(a) Appropriations. — To make necessary
appropriations for the expenses of government of the municipality, and
establish and fix therein the salaries of municipal officers and
employees, except as herein provided.
(b) Property. — To purchase, receive, hold, sell,
lease, convey, and dispose of property, real and personal, for the
benefit of the municipality: Provided, That the express authorization
of the provincial governor shall be necessary to alienate or constitute
any lien upon any real property of the municipality, and with the prior
authorization of the department governor, to close in whole or in part
any municipal road, street, alley, park, or square, and to devote the
same to any municipal purpose, including those mentioned in Act
Numbered Two thousand and twenty-nine, or to convey the same, with or
without money consideration, to the department, province, or to the
Insular Government for governmental purposes: Provided, However, That
no road, street, alley, park, or square, or any part thereof, shall be
closed without indemnifying any person prejudiced thereby.
(c) Levy, collections, and expenditures of taxes. —
To provide for the levy and collection of taxes and other municipal
revenues, as provided by law, and apply the same to the payment of
municipal expenses in accordance with appropriations.
(d) Licenses and license fee. — To issue licenses
fixing the amount of the license fee for the following:
Hawkers, peddlers, hucksters, not including hucksters or peddlers who
sell only native vegetables, fruits, or foods, personally carried by
the huckster or peddler, auctioneers, plumbers, barbers, tailor shops,
bakeries, manicuring establishments, massage parlors, embalmers,
collecting agencies, mercantile agencies, transportation companies and
agencies, advertising agents, tattooers, hotels, clubs, restaurants,
lodging houses, boarding houses, livery stables, boarding stables,
laundries, cleaning and dyeing establishments, establishments for the
storage of highly combustible or explosive materials, public
warehouses, circus and other similar parades, public vehicles,
bicycles, horse races, bowling alleys, pawnbrokers, dealers in
second-hand merchandise, junk dealers, billiard tables, theaters,
theatrical performances and all other performances and places of
amusement, shooting galleries, slot machines not used for gaming, and
merry-go-rounds; to license or prohibit dance halls, and the selling,
giving away, or disposing in any manner of any intoxicating,
spirituous, vinous, or fermented liquors, and determine the amount to
be paid for such licenses: Provided, That nothing in this section shall
be held to repeal or modify the provisions of Act Numbered Sixteen
hundred and thirty-nine.
If after due investigation the president shall decide that any person
licensed under the provisions of this subsection is abusing his license
and privilege to the injury of the public morals or peace or that any
place so licensed has been or is conducted in a disorderly or unlawful
manner, or is a nuisance, or is permitted to be used as a resort for
disorderly characters, criminals, or women of ill repute, he may by
order summarily revoke on the appeal shall be final. Such revocation
shall operate to forfeit to the municipality all sums which may have
been paid for said license and such license, subject to appeal to the
provincial governor, whose action other license for a term which may be
fixed in said order.
(e) Regulations for conducting business. — To make
regulations for the conducting of the business of the persons and
places named in subsection (d) of this section. To regulate the
business and fix the location of blacksmith shops, foundries, steam
boilers, steam engines, lumber yards, sawmills, and other
establishments likely to endanger the public safety by giving rise to
conflagrations or explosions; to regulate the storage and sale of
gunpowder, tar, pitch, resin, coal, oil, gasoline, benzine, turpentine,
nitroglycerin, petroleum, or any of the products thereof and of all
other highly combustible or explosive materials.
(f) Public buildings. — To provide for the erection
or rental of public buildings necessary for the use of the municipality.
(g) Schools. — To establish and maintain primary
schools, subject to the limitations of law.
(h) Scholarships. — To grant scholarships to
municipal teachers and male and female students in the municipality,
under such conditions as it may deem convenient to prescribe, subject
to the approval of the provincial board and the department governor.
(i) Building regulations. — To establish fire limits,
and prescribe the kind of buildings and structures that may be erected
within said limits, and the manner of constructing and repairing the
same.
(j) Fire department. — To erect engine house, and
provide fire engines, hose carts, hooks and ladders, and other
equipment for the prevention and extinguishment of fires, and provide
for the management and use of the same: Provided, That until further
provisions is made, Act Numbered Seventeen hundred and thirty-three of
the Philippine Commission, except as to the number of authorized
volunteer firemen, shall apply to all municipalities.
(k) Lights, fires, and fireworks. — To regulate the
use of lights in stables, shops, and other buildings and places, and to
regulate or restrain the building of bonfires and the use of
firecrackers, fireworks, torpedoes and pyrotechnic displays.
(l) Storms and calamities. — To make suitable
provisions to insure the public safety from conflagrations, the effects
of storms, and other public calamities, and to provide relief for
persons suffering from the same.
(m) Streets, sidewalks, plazas, parks, water supply,
and so forth; special assessment. — To provide for laying out, opening,
extending, widening, straightening, closing up, constructing, or
regulating, in whole or in part, any public plaza, square, street,
sidewalk, trail, park, waterworks, or water mains, or any cemetery,
sewer, sewer connection or connections, either on, in, or upon public
or private property; to provide for ascertaining whether any, and what
amount in value, of damage will be caused, or benefit will accrue to
the owner or possessor of any land, premises, or improvements; whether
public or private, by reason of any such work and for which such owner
or possessor should be compensated, or should pay a compensation, and
provide for assessing, levying, and collecting, either generally on the
whole assessable property within the municipality, specially on the
property benefited, or on all the property within any stated area or
district within the bounds of said municipality which it may create and
establish for such purpose, the whole, or any part of the amount of
damages and expenses which, as so ascertained, will be incurred in and
about any such work or construction as aforesaid within the bounds of
said municipality; to provide for the payment of such compensation as
may be found to be due to any person or persons entitled thereto; to
provide, when the owners or possessors of such lands, premises, or
improvements shall not properly and fully pay to such official and at
such time or times and manner as it shall fix therefor any amount or
amounts which may be found and declared to be due as and for such
assessment as aforesaid, for filing in the proper and appropriate
registers or records of property declarations of such amounts so found
due, which amounts shall, in each and all cases and upon and after such
filing, be and become liens upon and against such lands, premises, or
improvements; that said liens shall have and take precedence over all
other liens of every kind and nature whatsoever antecedent or
subsequent in point of time, save and except annual or other regular
tax liens; and that said liens shall be enforced and collected by the
same officials, in the same manner and under the same penalties as to
time and interest, as annual or other regular tax liens, and shall,
when so paid or collected, be paid in and credited to the appropriate
assessment fund, whether general or special, and be disbursed therefrom
in such and no other manner as shall be provided in the ordinance
creating such assessment and fund; to carry into effect by ordinance
the powers hereinbefore granted in this section, but no ordinance shall
provide for more than one project of any of the ones named herein, nor
create more than one district, assessment, and fund necessary and
appropriate therefor, and in each and every such ordinance provision
shall be made for notice to any and all persons interested, giving them
and each of them not less than two weeks from and after the date of
depositing a notice in the post office at the municipality in a
securely sealed post-paid wrapper addressed to each person affected
thereby and assessed thereunder at his last known place residence, or
at the municipality if no place of residence is known, or to an agent
who may be or may have been appointed by such person in writing, in
which to appear and file objection to either the work itself, the
method or manner of assessment, the time or times and method of payment
therefor, or to all thereof, and such other and further objection or
objections as may seem to any such person or persons or persons
reasonable and proper in the premises; such notice shall set forth the
nature of the proposed improvement, the estimated cost thereof, the
total amount of the assessment to be levied therefor, and the amount to
be levied upon each parcel of the property or possession of the
addressee; and every such appearance and objection shall be made and
heard only before the municipal council, and said council may, at any
such hearing, alter, modify, or increase the area of such district, the
total assessment thereof, or any individual area or assessment objected
therein, and shall decide any and every such objection within ten days
after the filing thereof and give notice of such decision to the person
or persons interested in the manner hereinbefore provided for notice of
such assessment within five days thereafter: Provided, That all
assessments levied by virtue of this subsection shall be levied only
upon the basis of the value of the land benefited and not upon
improvements thereon, and that all valuations of any and all lands and
premises made under the provisions hereof and for the purposes herein
stated shall be the valuations thereof last regularly made for the
purposes of annual taxation: Provided Further, That no ordinance passed
pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be valid or take
effect until it shall have been approved by the provincial board and
the department governor.
The decision of the municipal council upon any objections made by a
property owner may in its discretion be reviewed by the Court of First
Instance, upon an appeal thereto filed within fifteen days after
receipt by such property owner of notice of the decision of the
municipal council, the Court may order the appellant upon application
therefor, to execute and file a bond as the necessity of the case may
require.
(n) Excess condemnation. — To acquire, take, condemn,
or appropriate more land and property than is needed for actual
construction in connection with any improvement herein authorized:
Provided, However, That the additional land and property so authorized
to be acquired, taken, condemned, or appropriated shall be no more than
sufficient to form a suitable building sites abutting on such
improvement. After so much of the land and property has been
appropriated for the improvement as is needed therefore, the remainder
may be sold or leased. The municipal council is hereby further
authorized and empowered to provide by general or special ordinance,
the manner in which the power herein granted may be exercised, subject
to the provisions of general law as to procedure: And Provided Further,
That no ordinance passed pursuant to the provisions of this subsection
shall be valid or take effect until it shall have been approved by the
provincial board and the department governor.
(o) Streets; lighting, cleaning, care, and control. —
To provide for the lighting, cleaning, and sprinkling of streets and
public places; to prevent and remove encroachments and obstructions
upon the same; to regulate or prevent the use of the same for
processions, signs, signposts, awnings, and awning posts; to prohibit
the throwing or depositing of offal, garbage, refuse, or other
offensive matter in the same, and to provide for its collection and
disposition; to regulate the openings therein for the laying of gas,
water, sewer, and other pipes therein, the building and repair of
tunnels, sewers, and drains, and all structures therein and thereunder,
and the erecting of poles and stringing of wires therein; to provide
for and regulate crosswalks, curbs, and gutters therein; to name and
change the names of the same, and provide for the regulate the
numbering of houses and lots fronting thereon; to regulate traffic and
sales upon the same; to abate nuisances in the same and punish the
authors or owner thereof; to construct, maintain, and regulate the use
of bridges, viaducts, and culverts; to prevent and regulate amusements
having a tendency to annoy persons using the streets or public places,
or to frighten horses and other animals; to regulate the speed of
horses and other animals, vehicles, and locomotives within the limits
of the municipality.
(p) Gas, electricity, telephones, and so forth. — To
provide for the inspection of all gas, electric and telephone wires,
conduits, meters, and other apparatus and the condemnation and
correction or removal of the same when dangerous or defective.
(q) Waterworks and water supply.—To maintain
waterworks for the purpose of supplying water to the inhabitants of the
municipality, to purify the source of supply, and regulate the control
and use of the water, and to fix and collect rents therefor; to
regulate the construction, repair, and use of hydrants, pumps,
cisterns, and reservoirs, and to prevent the waste of water.
(r) Pounds, stray animals. — To establish and
maintain a municipal pound and fix the fees for poundage; to regulate,
restrict, or prohibit the running at large of domestic animals and
fowls, and to provide for the distraining, impounding, and sale of the
same for the penalty incurred and the cost of the proceedings or for
killing in the event of failure of sale; also to impose penalties upon
the owners of said animals for the violation of any ordinance in
relation thereto: Provided, "large cattle" shall be disposed of in
accordance with general law.
(s) Dogs, possession of, regulated. — To license,
tax, and regulate the possession of dogs, and authorize the killing of
the same when at large contrary to ordinance; to require owners of
large cattle as defined by section one of Act Numbered Eleven hundred
and forty-seven, sheep, goats, and swine to keep such animals from
moving, running, or being at large except when in charge of some person
of sufficient discretion, and to penalize infractions of such
regulations by fine or imprisonment or both.
(t) Keeping and use of animals. — To regulate the
keeping and use of animals, in so far as the same affects the public
health and the health of domestic animals.
(u) Insanitary property. — To require any land or
building which is in an insanitary condition to be cleansed at the
expense of the owner or tenant, and, upon failure to comply with such
an order, have the work done, and assess the expense upon the land or
buildings.
(v) Property below grade. — To fill up or require to
be filled up to a grade necessary for proper sanitation any and all
lands and premises which may be declared and duly reported by the
health officer of the municipality as being insanitary by reason of
being below such grade or which, in the opinion of the council, the
public health or welfare may require.
(w) Drains, sewers, and so forth. — To construct and
keep in repair public drains, sewers, and cesspools, and regulate the
construction and use of private water closets, privies, sewers, drains,
and cesspools.
(x) Burial of dead. — To prohibit the burial of the
dead within the centers of population of the municipality and provide
for their burial in such proper place and in such manner as the council
may determine, subject to the provisions of Act Numbered Fourteen
hundred and fifty-eight of the Philippine Commission.
(y) Slaughterhouses and markets. — To establish or
authorize the establishment of slaughterhouses and markets, and inspect
and regulate the use of the same; to provide for and regulate the
keeping, preparation, and sale of meat, fruits, poultry, milk, fish,
vegetables, and all other provisions or articles of food offered for
sale.
(z) Enforcement of health laws and regulations. — To
enforce health laws and regulations, and by ordinance to provide fines
and penalties for violations of such regulations; to adopt such other
measures to prevent the introduction and spread of disease as may, from
time to time, be deemed desirable or necessary.
(aa) Nuisances. — To declare, prevent, and abate
nuisances.
(bb) Cockfighting. — To regulate and license or
prohibit cockfighting and the keeping or training or fighting cocks,
and to close cockpits subject to the provisions and restrictions of
general law.
(cc) Ringing of bells. — To regulate and restrain the
ringing of bells and the making of loud or unusual noises.
(dd) Police. — To establish, maintain, and regulate a
police force subject to the provisions of section seventeen hereof, and
the provisions of general law.
(ee) Prison. — To establish, maintain, and regulate a
municipal prison.
(ff) Cruelty to animals. — To prohibit and provide
for the punishment of cruelty to animals.
(gg) Disorderly houses, and so forth. — To suppress
or regulate houses of ill fame and other disorderly houses; to prohibit
the printing, sale, or exhibition of immoral pictures, books, or
publications of any description.
(hh) Gambling, riots, and breaches of the peace. — To
prevent and suppress riots, gambling, affrays, disturbances, and
disorderly assemblies; to punish and prevent intoxication, fighting,
quarrelling, and all disorderly conduct; to make and enforce all
necessary police ordinances, with the view to the confinement and
reformation of vagrants, gamblers, disorderly persons, medicants, and
prostitutes, and persons convicted of violating any municipal ordinance.
(ii) Penalties for violation of ordinances. — To fix
penalties for violation of ordinances, but no single penalty shall
exceed a fine of two hundred pesos or imprisonment for six months, or
both; imprisonment shall be imposed in lieu of unpaid fines at the rate
of one day's imprisonment for each peso of the fine: Provided, That
persons undergoing imprisonment for violation of ordinances may be
required to labor for the period of imprisonment upon public works of
the municipality in such manner as may be directed by the municipal
council: Provided, Further, That whenever a person is imprisoned for
nonpayment of a fine he shall be released upon payment of such fine,
less one peso per day for each day that he has been confined: And
Provided Further, That persons charged with violation of a municipal
ordinance who cannot be tried immediately after arrest, shall be
released by the chief of police or his authorized agents either upon
personal recognizance or a cash bond not exceeding fifty per centum of
the maximum fine provided in the ordinance.
(jj) General welfare clause. — To make such further
ordinances and regulations not repugnant to law, as may be necessary to
carry into effect and discharge the powers and duties conferred by this
Act, and such as shall seem necessary and proper to provide for the
health and safety, promote the prosperity, improve the morals, peace,
good order, comfort, and convenience of the municipality and the
inhabitants thereof, and for the protection of property therein; and
enforce obedience thereto with such lawful fines or penalties as the
municipal council may prescribe under the provisions of subsection (ii)
of this section.
Sec. 48. Councilors. — Each councilor shall have
the following general duties and powers:
(a) Information for barrios. — He shall keep the
people of his barrio informed as to the acts of the council, or other
governmental measures which directly concern them, by bandillo or other
method of appropriate or effective publication.
(b) Recommendation to the council. — He shall bring
the special needs of his barrio to the attention of the council and
shall make such recommendations as he may deem necessary.
(c) Important events. — He shall promptly inform the
president of any unusual or untoward event occurring within his barrio.
(d) Lieutenant of barrio. — He shall appoint one
lieutenant for the barrio which comes under his immediate supervision.
A lieutenant of barrio shall serve without compensation, and shall
report directly to the councilor appointing him. It shall be the duty
of the lieutenant of barrio to assist the councilor in the performance
of his ministerial duties in his barrio. The term of office of the
lieutenant of barrio shall be that of the councilor appointing him:
Provided, That a lieutenant of barrio shall be entitled to have a
cedula issued to him free of charge while performing his duties as such.
(e) Substitute lieutenant of barrio. — He shall also
appoint a substitute lieutenant, who shall take the place of the
lieutenant of such barrio during the temporary absence or disability of
the latter.
ARTICLE 18
TAXATION AND FINANCE
Sec. 49. The municipal treasurer. — The municipal
treasurer shall, until otherwise provided by law, be appointed by the
provincial treasurer, subject to the approval of the provincial board,
and shall perform the following general powers and duties:
(a) Receipts and accounts for moneys. — He shall
receive all moneys paid to the municipality from any source whatever,
and shall account for the same in accordance with law and
administrative regulations.
(b) Account to district auditor. — He shall render
such accounts as the district auditor may require of him.
(c) Office; keeping of money, and so forth. — He
shall have his office in the municipal building and he shall keep in
the municipal safe or strong box, which it shall be the duty of the
municipal council to provide, all funds in his custody. Such moneys
shall be kept separate and distinct from his own money, nor shall he be
permitted to make profit out of public money or lend or otherwise use
it, or to use the same may be considered a malversation of funds, to be
tired by a court in any method not authorized by law. Any violation of
this provision of competent jurisdiction, in accordance with the
provisions of general law.
(d) Deposit of funds. — He shall, when authorized by
the department treasurer, deposit for safekeeping with the provincial
treasurer such sums of money as he will not be obliged to use at once.
(e) Custodian of municipal property. — He shall be
the custodian of all municipal property and shall keep a complete
record thereof.
(f) Annual report. — He shall, during the first
fifteen days of January of each year, prepare in duplicate itemized
statements of the income and disbursements for the preceding calendar
year, one copy of which shall be transmitted to provincial treasurer
and the other to the municipal council.
(g) List of taxpayers. — He shall, within ten days
after the passage of the ordinance by the council for the payment of
licenses or privilege taxes, prepare a list of the names of the persons
whose business, if continued, would render them liable to the license
or tax and he shall transmit such list at once to the provincial
treasurer, to enable him more readily to detect persons failing to pay
the licenses and privilege taxes for which they shall have become
liable.
(h) Appointment of clerks. — He shall appoint such
clerks and other employees as are necessary to aid him in the discharge
of his duties when the number and salaries thereof are determined in
the manner provided by this Act. In case it shall appear the number of
salaries authorized by the municipal council are manifestly inadequate,
it shall be within the power of the provincial board, on application,
to increase the number of clerks or employees or the salaries fixed by
the municipal council therefor.
(i) Requisitions. — To make requisitions upon the
provincial treasurer for necessary supplies or equipment, in accordance
with the provisions of section thirty-four (h) hereof.
Sec. 50. Revenues. — The revenues of the
municipality shall be devoted exclusively to local public purposes.
They shall be derived in addition to those prescribed in section
forty-seven hereof from the following sources:
(a) Land taxes. — The assessment and collection of an
ad valorem tax on all land, buildings, and improvements in the
municipality shall be made in accordance with the provisions and
restrictions of the real property tax law, in force in the department.
(b) Fisheries and fishing privileges. — The granting
of privilege of fisheries, other than pearl or shell fisheries, in
fresh-water streams, lakes, and tidal streams, included within the
municipality and not the property of any private individual, and in the
marine waters included between two lines drawn perpendicular to the
general coast line from points where the boundary lines of the
municipality touch the sea at high tide, and a third line parallel with
the general coast line and distant from it three marine leagues:
Provided, That when municipalities are so situated on opposite shores
that there is less than six marine leagues of marine waters between
them the third line shall be a line equally distant from the opposite
shores of the respective municipalities. Where fresh-water lakes are
not included within the limits of any one municipality, or where
fresh-water or tidal streams from boundaries between municipalities,
disputes which may arise as to the waters within which any municipality
may exercise the right of taxing the granting of privilege of fisheries
shall be referred by each municipality to the provincial board of the
province to which it belongs for settlement, subject to appeal to the
department governor, whose decision shall be final.
(c) Rents and profits, municipal property. — Rents
and profits from all property belonging to the municipality, tolls from
ferries, municipal stables, markets, slaughterhouse, bath house,
laundries, pounds, and cemeteries.
(d) Rentals of privilege. — Rentals for the
privileges of establishing and maintaining the same.
(e) Tuition fees. — Fees for tuition in institutions
of instruction, other than primary schools, founded and maintained
solely by the municipality; but nothing herein shall require the
charging of such fees.
(f) Frontage tax. — A uniform annual frontage tax to
be imposed in the discretion of the municipal council within the
commercial zone upon each person owning, or in case of doubt as to
ownership, upon the person occupying land fronting upon a public
thoroughfare, for each meter or part of meter of frontage, upon
approval of the provincial board of the province in which the
municipality is situated. The proceeds from such tax shall constitute a
special fund which shall be expended only for the purpose of cleaning,
repairing, and improving the public thoroughfares within the commercial
zone in which it is imposed.
(g) Municipal fines; burial permits. — Municipal
fines, and fees for the issuance of burial permits and permits for the
removal of the bodies of deceased persons: Provided, That the charge
made for each such permit shall not exceed fifty centavos.
(h) Building permits. — To issue building permits and
to provide fees therefor.
Sec. 51. General rules for municipal taxation and
licenses. — The following provisions shall be observed in the exercise
of the right of taxation:
(a) Import and export tax prohibited. — It shall not
be in the power of the municipal council to impose a tax in any form
whatever upon goods and merchandise carried into the municipality, or
out of the same, and any attempt to impose an import or export tax upon
such goods in the guise of an unreasonable charge, wharfage, use of
bridges, or otherwise, shall be void.
(b) Fixing and changing taxes. — All taxes, licenses,
and fees imposed by the council shall be fixed by ordinance and may be
changed from year to year, as the council may deem proper.
(c) Prepayment of licenses. — All licenses and
privilege taxes shall be paid before the licensee or taxpayer shall
begin the business or enjoyment of the privilege for which the license
or tax is imposed by the ordinance.
(d) Termination of licenses, and so forth. — All
licenses and privilege taxes shall terminate on the thirty-first of
December of each year, and anyone beginning a business or exercising a
privilege upon which a tax is levied by the council after the
thirty-first of December shall be required, before beginning such
business or exercising such privilege, to pay the license or tax for
the quarters of the year which remain, to and including the
thirty-first of December following. But all licenses and privilege
taxes may be paid in quarterly installments without penalty during the
first ten days of the quarter, at the election of the licensee.
(e) Farming or leasing; collection by provincial
treasurer. — No taxes, imposts, or other revenues of the municipality
shall be leased or farmed except as provided in Act Numbered Sixteen
hundred and thirty-four: Provided, That the powers therein conferred
upon the Governor-General shall be exercised by the department
governor. All imposts, taxes, revenues, fines, penalties, rents, debts
due the municipality, license and privilege fees, and money or funds
payable to the municipality for any reason or from any source
whatsoever shall be collected and received by the provincial treasurer
or his authorized deputies: Provided, Further, That when the municipal
treasurer is also a deputy of the provincial treasurer all such
collections shall be made by him as such deputy: And Provided Further,
That when the municipal treasurer is not a deputy of the provincial
treasurer he may, as such municipal treasurer, make such collections as
are in this Act specifically provided.
(f) Conducting business without license. — The
council shall provide that any person conducting a business or enjoying
a privilege without paying the tax required by its ordinances shall be
punished by fine and imprisonment, after trial and conviction before
the justice of the peace, as in other cases under the limitations
prescribed in section forty-seven (ii) hereof.
(g) Collection of taxes. — It shall be the duty of
the provincial treasurer, in person or by deputy, to receive payment of
all revenues due to the municipality from any source whatever, in
accordance with law and administrative regulations: Provided, That
taxes collected by a deputy of a provincial treasurer shall not be
transferred to himself in his capacity as a municipal treasurer but
shall be turned over to the provincial treasurer or his deputy
specially authorized for that purpose, who shall be other than the
municipal treasurer.
(h) Turning over of revenues. — Taxes, imposts, and
other revenues of the municipality shall be turned over by the
provincial treasurer or his deputies, to the municipal treasurer,
within a reasonable time after the collection thereof, together with an
itemized statement showing the nature of the tax, impost, or other
revenue collected and the respective amounts of same.
ARTICLE 19
MUNICIPAL DISTRICTS
Sec. 52. Special municipal governments. — In
localities the majority of the inhabitants whereof have not progressed
sufficiently in civilization to make it practicable to bring them under
municipal government as provided in existing legislation, and wherever
non-Christian settlements are so small or so remote that their
organization as barrios of municipalities is impracticable, the
department governor is authorized to organize municipal district
governments and exercise jurisdiction over them through the provincial
governors. In dealing with such non-Christian settlements, or members
thereof, the department governor is authorized to appoint officers, to
fix the designation of such officers, and to prescribe their powers and
duties: Provided, However, That the powers and duties thus prescribed
shall not be in excess of the powers conferred upon municipal officers
by this chapter, except as provided in section eight (s) hereof.
Sec. 53. Taxation. — The provincial board is
hereby empowered to prescribe the tax to be collected in municipal
districts organized in accordance with section fifty-two hereof,
subject to the approval of the department governor: Provided, However,
That such taxes shall be within the limitations and restrictions
imposed on municipal councils by chapter three hereof: And Provided
Further, That in districts where no council is provided, the provincial
board shall exercise all the duties and powers devolving upon municipal
councils under this chapter.
ARTICLE 20
FINAL AND TRANSITORY PROVISIONS
Sec. 54. Elections. — For the purpose of the
elections herein provided, the following shall govern:
(a) Election of third members. — For the purpose of
the election of the third members of the provincial board, as provided
in paragraph (c) of section twenty-two hereof, the Governor-General,
upon the recommendation of the department governor, shall fix not later
than three months after the passage of this Act a date which may be
different for each province, for the election of third members of the
provincial boards: Provided, However, That until a duly elected and
qualified third member of the provincial board shall take possession of
the office, the department governor shall appoint, by and with the
consent of the administrative council, the said third member of the
provincial board.
(b) Municipal elections. — The provisions of the
Election Law, as amended, relating to the election of municipal
officials, provided in section thirty-nine hereof, not inconsistent
herewith, are hereby made applicable to the Department of Mindanao and
Sulu with the following exceptions, to wit:
1. That the Governor-General, upon the recommendation
of the department governor, shall fix a date for the general elections
of municipal presidents not later than the date fixed for provincial
governors herein provided: Provided, However, That nothing in this
paragraph shall be construed to preclude the election of municipal
presidents in municipalities organized under the provisions of Act
Numbered Eighty-two.
2. That section thirteen (c) of said Act, shall, for
the purposes of this Act, read as follows:
"Those who speak, read, and write English, Spanish, or any of the local
native dialects: Provided, That officers, soldiers, sailors, or marines
of the Army or Navy of the United States shall not be considered as
having acquired legal residence within the meaning of this section by
reason of their having been stationed in the municipalities for the
required six months."
(c) Term of office. — The provincial and municipal
officers elected under this Act shall hold office until their
successors qualify in accordance with the provisions of the Election
Law. The term of office of all such elective officers shall be four
years: Provided, However, That the next general election, immediately
succeeding the first called pursuant to the provisions hereof, shall be
coincident with the election prescribed by the Election law for
regularly organized provinces and municipalities.
Sec. 55. Administrative Code. — The department
governor is hereby authorized and empowered to prepare or cause to be
prepared under his direction and supervision, a compilation of the acts
of the legislative council of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu,
executive orders, circulars, and regulations issued thereunder, revised
and modified to conform with the provisions of this Organic Act,
including rules and regulations required by this Act and instructions
necessary to properly carry into effect the provisions hereof. Such
executive orders, rules and regulations, instructions, and circulars
authorized by law when duly approved by the Governor-General shall have
the force and effect of law and together with the compiled acts of the
legislative council shall hereafter be referred to as "The
Administrative Code of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu": Provided,
However, That such code may be amended from time to time by the
administrative council with the approval of the Governor-General first
had: Provided Further, That if requested by the department governor,
the Governor-General may detail such officers and employees of the
Insular or provincial governments, as may be considered necessary to
assist in the preparation of the Administrative Code herein provided,
and such officers and employees shall receive such additional
compensation, in lieu of living expenses, as may be provided by the
administrative council.
Sec. 56. Officers and employees continued:
interest in government contract work prohibited. — Any officer or
employee of the department or any political subdivision thereof whose
official designation is modified herein shall continue in the
performance of his duties in his capacity as officer or employee of the
department or any political subdivision thereof until otherwise
provided by law or administrative action.
No officer or employee of the department of any political subdivision
thereof shall be directly or indirectly interested in any contract
work, any business transaction with the Government whereby money is to
be paid directly or indirectly out of the revenues of the Government to
such person, any licensed games and amusements, any business of the
Government, or in the purchase of any real estate except with the
permission of the department governor, or any other property belonging
to the Government. Any officer or employee violating the provisions of
this paragraph shall, after due hearing, be removed from office in
accordance with the provisions of section thirty-six hereof and upon
trial and conviction in a court of competent jurisdiction shall be
punished by a fine of not more than one thousand pesos, or by
imprisonment for not more than two years, or by both such fine and
imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.
Sec. 57. Insular Auditor. — The Insular Auditor is
hereby authorized and empowered to make and prescribe necessary rules
and regulations as to preparation of budgets, disbursement of funds and
accounts in general, to properly carry into effect the provisions of
this Act.
Sec. 58. Customs revenue. — All customs
collections in the Department of Mindanao and Sulu shall be deposited
in the Insular Treasury subject to appropriation as Insular funds:
Provided, However, That until December thirty-first, inclusive,
nineteen hundred and fourteen, the gross amount of customs receipts
from whatever source collected within the Department, less the cost of
collection of the same therein, shall constitute a special fund to be
expended in the discretion of the administrative council; and for this
purpose such funds shall be deposited by the collectors of customs in
the department directly with the treasurer of the department, taking
receipts therefor and forwarding one copy thereof to the Insular
Collector of Customs and one copy to the Insular Treasurer.
Sec. 59. Repealing provisions. — The provisions of
Act Numbered Seven hundred eighty-seven, as amended, and all Acts and
parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed: Provided,
However, That no provision of this Act shall be construed as repealing
the provisions of the Civil Service Act, as amended, which shall
continue in full force and effect in the department and political
subdivisions thereof.
Sec. 60. Date effective. — This Act shall take
effect September first, nineteen hundred and fourteen.
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