SECTION 1. Civil
Government, Benguet. — A civil government is hereby established for the
Province of Benguet.
Sec. 2. Officers and Salaries; Governor,
Secretary, Inspector, United States Money; — The officers of this
government shall be:
(a) A provincial governor, at a salary of one
thousand five hundred dollars per year;
(b) A provincial secretary, at a salary of one
thousand dollars per year; and
(c) A provincial inspector, at a salary of four
hundred dollars per year;
All in money of the United States.
Sec. 3. Appointments. — These officers shall
be appointed by the United States Philippine Commission.
Sec. 4. Residence. — These officers shall reside
and have their offices in the township of Baguio, which shall be the
capital of the province.
Sec. 5. Chief Executive; Reports, etc. — The
governor shall be the chief executive of the province. Until such time
as a departmental government shall be established which shall include
the Province of Benguet, he shall report directly to the Chief
Executive of the Insular Government. On or before the first day of
February of each year he shall make a written statement to such Chief
Executive of the condition of the province.
Sec. 6. Proclamation of Laws. — He shall make
known to the people of his province, by proclamation or communications
delivered to the presidents of the several townships, all general laws
or governmental orders which concern them, and each president shall
deliver all such proclamations and communications to the township
secretary, to be by him filed and preserved.
Sec. 7. Ordinances, etc., Approval and
Disapproval. —He shall pass upon every ordinance or act of the several
township councils of the province, approving it, should he deem it
satisfactory. Should he consider it unsatisfactory, he shall return it
to the council, suggesting suitable amendments. The council shall
inform him of its action, and he shall then approve the ordinance or
act as amended, or modify it, as he may deem necessary.
Sec. 8. Failure of Council to legislate; Governor
to Act; Governor's constant aim. — Should the council of any township
fail to fix the limits of the barrios of the township; to fix the
salaries of duly authorized officers and employees; to make
appropriations for lawful and necessary township expenditures; to
provide for the construction and care of trails and bridges in the
chief barrio of the township, and of those necessary to connect it with
the outlying barrios; to regulate the sanitation of the township and
order the removal of nuisances the causes of disease; to regulate the
running at large of domestic animals; to adopt suitable measures to
prevent the spread of disease; to prohibit gambling, cockfighting,
opium smoking or the sale of opium for smoking; to provide and enforce
regulations for the taxation of the retail sale, in quantities of less
than five gallons, of any intoxicating, fermented, malt, or vinous
liquors, except the native beverage made from rice and known as
"tapuy"; to impose such other license fees as may be required by
general law; to provide for the care of the poor, the sick, or of
orphans; to provide for the establishment and maintenance of schools
for primary instruction; to provide for the construction and
maintenance of necessary waterworks for supplying the inhabitants of
the township with water, and for insuring the equitable distribution
and use of water for the purpose or irrigation in the township, or, in
general, to provide for carrying into effect and discharging the powers
and duties conferred on them by the "Act providing for the
establishment of local civil governments in the townships of the
Province of Benguet;" or should it fail to enact such measures as are
necessary and proper to provide for the health and safety, promote the
prosperity, improve the morals, good order, peace, comfort, and
convenience of the township and the inhabitants thereof and for the
protection of the property therein:
Then the governor shall issue to the president of such township
suitable written orders for securing these ends, and these orders shall
have the effect of law. But, the constant aim of the governor shall be
to aid the people of the several townships of the province to acquire
the knowledge and experience necessary for successful local popular
government, and his supervision and control shall be confined within
the narrowest limits consistent with the requirement that the powers of
government in the townships shall be honestly and effectively
exercised, and that law and order and individual freedom shall be
maintained.
Sec. 9. Provincial Treasurer, Governor to Act as;
Accounts— Auditing of — Until such time as a treasurer shall be
appointed for the province, the governor shall act as provincial
treasurer, subject to the provisions of general law. He shall audit the
monthly accounts of the several townships, and shall cause
investigation to be made should he find reason to believe that the
finances of any township are dishonestly or negligently administered.
Should such investigation reveal ground for action, he shall cause
proceedings to be instituted against the offending person or persons.
Sec. 10. Misconduct or Disloyalty. — He shall have
power to suspend any township official charged with misconduct in
office or disloyalty to the United States, and, after proper notice and
hearing, to remove or reinstate him. Such suspension, removal, or
reinstatement shall be reported to the Commission, who may approve or
revoke the same.
Sec. 11. Stamped Paper. — He shall provide
the presidents of the several townships with official paper stamped by
him for convenient amounts, to be used in receipting for all fines,
fees, or taxes and in the issuing of true copies of entries in the
civil register. He shall hold each president responsible for the
aggregate amount of stamps on official paper furnished to him and not
returned.
Sec. 12. Township Elections; Tax Days. — He shall
fix the dates for the first township elections in the several
townships, and the day or days during each month from January fifteenth
to July thirty-first of each year on which the people of the several
townships may appear before the presidents to pay their taxes:
Provided, That the last day so fixed shall be the thirty-first of July
of each year.
Sec. 13. Justice of Peace; Arrest; Trial; Binding
Over; Bail. — He shall be ex officio a justice of the peace in and for
the Province of Benguet. All the powers and duties of that office,
which are now or may hereafter be provided by law, are vested in him.
He shall have the power, and it shall be his duty, to issue a warrant
for the arrest of a person charged with the commission of any offense.
If the offense is one which a justice of the peace may finally try and
decide, he shall try and decide it; and if the accused is convicted, he
shall impose the proper punishment. If he shall find that the offense
is one which can only be tried by a Court of First Instance, he shall
make such investigation, and shall be governed by the same rules, as
judges of the first instance in similar cases. If he finds that there
is a probable cause for believing the accused to be guilty, he shall
bind him over for trial by the judge of the first instance for the
Provinces of Union and Benguet, and shall at once forward to that
official all the records in the case. He is hereby empowered to take
bail of such accused person, should the case be bailable by law, in the
same manner as a judge of the first instance.
Sec. 14. Board of Assessors. — He shall be the
presiding officer of the board of assessors provided for in section
nineteen.
Sec. 15. Constabulary and Police. — He shall have
the general control of all Constabulary and police forces in the
province, subject to the supervision of the Chief Executive of the
Insular Government.
Sec. 16. Absence; Death or Disability. — He shall
not leave the province, except in case of emergency, without the
consent of the Chief Executive of the Insular Government. During such
absence the provincial secretary shall act in his stead. In case of the
death of the provincial governor, or of his inability to perform his
duties through illness, they shall be discharged by the provincial
secretary until such time as the Commission shall appoint some person
to perform them or the provincial governor shall be able to resume
their performance.
Sec. 17. Secretary to be Custodian of Records;
Interpretations and translations; Recorder; Filing and Compiling;
Notary Public. — The provincial secretary shall be the custodian of all
official records. He shall receive and shall translate for the
provincial governor all communications from the several townships in
the province, and shall serve as interpreter for the governor, in
official proceedings, whenever requested to do so. He shall make
written translations of all official orders or communications which the
provincial governor may desire to have translated. He shall act as
recorder in all judicial and official proceedings presided over by the
provincial governor. He shall be a member of the board of assessors
provided for in section nineteen and shall serve as its recording
officer. He shall receive from the township secretaries the certified
copies of the civil registers and other statistical lists required to
be kept by them, and shall file the same and make a compilation thereof
for the use of the provincial governor, and the same shall be a record
open to the inspection of the public. He shall be ex officio a notary
public in and for the province. All the powers and duties of that
office which are now or may hereafter be provided by law, are vested in
him.
Sec. 18. Provincial Inspector, Duties of;. — The
provincial Inspector shall visit and inspect the several townships of
the province at stated intervals to be determined by the provincial
governor, and on special occasions, whenever the governor may so
direct. He shall examine the records and accounts of the several
townships, with a view to ascertaining whether the affairs of the
townships are being honestly and efficiently administered, and shall
report the results of his investigations to the provincial governor. He
shall heal all complaints which the inhabitants of any township may
desire to make, and shall truthfully and fully report them to the
provincial governor. He shall investigate any suspected cases of
dishonesty in the declarations, as to the value of their property
required of property owners as a basis for taxation, and shall report
the result of every such investigation to the provincial governor,
together with any instances of serious misconduct on the part of
residents of the province which may be brought to his attention. He is
hereby empowered to summon witnesses and hear testimony for the
promotion of these ends.
Sec. 19. Failure to Declare Property Values; Board
of Assessors Created. — Should any owner of property within the
province fail to declare the value of his property before the
thirty-first day of January of any year, or should the provincial
inspector or any resident of the province complain that a property
owner has made a false declaration as to the value of his property, the
provincial governor, the provincial secretary, and the president of the
township in which the property is situated shall constitute a board of
assessors to determine the value of the property in question. The
provincial governor shall be the presiding officer of this board, and
the provincial secretary shall be its recording officer. The board is
hereby empowered to call and examine witness and to fix the value of
property, when such value has not been declared or is alleged to have
been incorrectly stated. Its decisions shall be final. The recording
officer of the board shall make and keep a record of all its
proceedings and findings.
Sec. 20. Bureau of Forestry; Firewood and Timber,
Exemptions. — The Chief of the Bureau of Forestry shall assign a
forester to the province, who shall have his office at Baguio. He shall
perform the duties prescribed by general law for foresters, except that
he shall collect no revenue for firewood used by native residents to
cook their food or warm their houses, or for timber actually used by
them in the construction of their dwelling houses, or in fencing plots
of cultivated grounds, but they shall be allowed the necessary timber
and firewood for these purposes free of charge: Provided, That the
usual charges shall be collected on all timber or firewood sold by one
person to another or offered for sale.
Sec. 21. This Act shall take effect on its passage.
|