SECTION 1. Whenever
the Commission shall enact that a provincial government shall be
established in any part of these Islands, describing therein the
territory to be included within the jurisdiction of such government the
institution, organization, and maintenance of such government, unless
otherwise especially provided, shall be in accordance with the
provisions of this Act.
Sec. 2. Every provincial government 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 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 expressly authorized by law.
Sec. 3. In every provincial government there shall
be a provincial governor, a provincial secretary, a provincial
treasurer, a provincial supervisor and a provincial fiscal. No person
shall be eligible for any, of these offices who is not either a citizen
of the United States, a native of the Philippine Islands or a person
who, not being the subject or 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 Islands; or who, having taken the
oath of allegiance to the United States, shall violate the same; or who
shall be in arms against the United States after April first, nineteen
hundred and one, or shall give aid and comfort to those so in arms
after such date. Non residence in the province shall not render the
person elected or appointed to a provincial office ineligible; but
during his incumbency he shall reside at the capital of the province.
The annual salaries to be received by the above named officer in each
province shall be fixed in the Act extending the provisions of this Act
to such province.
Sec. 4. The provincial governor shall be selected
in the following manner: On the first Monday in February of the year
nineteen hundred and two, and of each second year thereafter, the
councilors of every duly organized municipality in the province shall
meet in joint convention at the capital of the province and there,
after selecting a presiding officer and secretary, shall by secret
ballot choose a person to be the provincial governor. A majority of
those present and entitled to vote shall be necessary to elect. The
action of the convention shall be forwarded to the Commission by the
secretary of the convention, after being duly certified by the
presiding officer of the convention and by the secretary. The
Commission shall then confirm the selection of the person named, unless
it shall find that he was unfairly elected, that he is ineligible, or
that there is reasonable ground to suspect his loyalty. If the
Commission shall decline to confirm the person named, the convention
shall be reconvened at a time fixed by the Commission, and a second
election had. If the appointment at the second election is not
confirmed, then the Commission shall appoint the governor. The term of
the governor thus elected or appointed shall begin on the first Monday
in March and continue for two years thereafter and until his successor
shall have been duly selected and qualified. When a provincial
government is established before the date fixed for the election herein
provided, the Commission shall appoint a governor of the province to
hold the office until his successor is selected under this section, and
has duly qualified.
Sec. 5. The provincial secretary, the provincial
treasurer, the provincial supervisor and the provincial fiscal shall be
appointed by the Commission to hold office during its pleasure. With
the exception of the provincial fiscal, they shall, after March first,
nineteen hundred and two, be selected under the provisions and
restrictions of the Civil Service Act. The provincial secretary shall
be able to speak and write the Spanish language, and after January
first, nineteen hundred and six, the English language also. The
provincial supervisor shall be a competent civil engineer and surveyor.
The provincial fiscal shall be a regularly admitted member of the bar
of the Supreme Court of the Islands, and shall be able to speak and
write the Spanish language, and, after January first, nineteen hundred
and six, the English language also. Before the provincial treasurer
shall qualify, he shall give a bond to the Insular Government for the
benefit of whom it may concern with sufficient surety in a penal sum
equal to the greatest amount of public funds from all sources which is
likely to be in his custody at any one time. The amount of the bond
shall be fixed and the sufficiency of the surety or sureties approved
by the Commission. The bond shall be conditioned to secure the faithful
performance of the duties of office, as now or hereafter prescribed by
law, and for the accounting for all public funds coming into his hands
as provincial treasurer or into those of his authorized deputies during
his incumbency, and in case of his death or removal until the statement
of his accounts by the Insular Treasurer. The Insular Treasurer shall
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 Commission to the same, which may then require a
new or an additional bond. The bonds of the provincial treasurers shall
after their approval by the Commission be filed with the Insular
Treasurer, who shall record the same in a book to be kept for the
purpose, and shall safely keep the same.
Sec. 6. All provincial officers shall, before
assuming office, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation:
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).
The oaths shall be filed in the office of the secretary of the province.
Sec. 7. The provincial governor shall be the chief
executive officer of the province. He shall report to the chief
executive officer of the Insular Government. He shall see that the laws
are faithfully executed by all the officers in the province. He shall
receive the judge of First Instance when he enters the province to hold
the terms of court therein, and shall provide for his protection and
entertainment, charging the reasonable expenses thereof to the
provincial treasury, which shall not exceed three dollars a day. Such
expenses of entertainment shall not be allowed when the judge of First
Instance has his usual place of residence in the capital of the
province where the court is held. The governor shall attend the Court
of First Instance when in session by himself or deputy as the chief
executive officer of the court and province, and shall execute such
process as he shall be required to execute by law. Subject to other
provisions of law, he shall have control of the local constabulary or
police of the various municipalities of the province; and may, when the
public interests require, temporarily withdraw from the municipality in
which such police or constabulary are organized, a part thereof for use
in other pueblos of the province. Upon the filing of charges or upon
receiving authentic information of maladministration by any officer of
a municipality of the province, he may suspend such officer, and shall
immediately forward to the Commission, through the Chief Executive of
the Islands, a statement of the grounds for such suspension, together
with the evidence upon which he has acted, giving notice of his action
to the suspended official. The Commission shall, after hearing and
investigation either remove the suspended officer or reinstate him. He
shall preside at all meetings of the provincial board hereafter
constituted. 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 of its executive
officers and take suitable action thereon, either by dismissing the
complaints, by suspending the official and transmitting the charges to
the Commission or by directing the provincial fiscal to bring a
criminal or civil suit in the public interest against the person
complained of, if the charge made involves either civil or criminal
liability. Between the first and fifteenth of January of each year, he
shall make a report of the conditions of the province for the year
ending on the previous thirty-first of December to the Chief Executive
of the Insular Government, recommending therein such measures,
executive or legislative, as may to him seem best or the betterment of
the conditions in the province. Whenever lawless violence or seditious
conspiracy and disturbance of the public peace shall occur of so
formidable a character as to be beyond the power of the local police of
the province to suppress, it shall be the duty of the governor to call
upon the chief executive of the Insular Government or the military
officer commanding the district in which the province lies to send
troops to suppress the disturbance. The Governor 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. He shall
employ such deputies and assistants in discharging his duties as he may
deem necessary, subject to the approval of the board. Their salaries
shall be fixed by the governor with like approval. The number and
salaries of such employees shall be reported by the governor to the
Insular Treasurer at the close of each month, who shall have power to
abolish such subordinate offices or reduce salaries so as to secure
economy and uniformity of expenditure in provinces of substantially the
same population and resources and no increase shall be made in the
number of the employees or the amount of the salaries after having been
once reduced by the Insular Treasurer before his approval of the
proposed increase shall have been obtained. The salaries shall be paid
out of the provincial treasury.
Sec. 8. The provincial secretary shall attest all
the official acts of the provincial governor under the seal of the
province and shall record all those of the governor's acts which are
required by law to be recorded. He shall be the custodian of the
provincial seal. He 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, and he shall generally act as custodian of
all provincial records and documents. He shall, on demand, furnish
certified copies of all public records and documents, for which he may
charge as personal compensation, in addition to his regular salary, the
amount of ten cents (Mexican) per one hundred words, including the
certificate. In case of a vacancy in the office of governor, or the
absence of the governor from the province, the secretary shall
discharge the duties of the governor during such vacancy or absence or
until the vacancy shall be filled as hereinafter provided.
Sec. 9. The provincial treasurer shall be the
chief financial officer of the province. He shall in person, or by
authorized deputy, supervise the appraisement and assessment of real
property in all the municipalities of the province in the manner
provided in the Municipal Code. Except where otherwise especially
provided, he shall by himself or deputy collect all taxes imposed upon
property or persons in the province, either by the municipalities of
the province, the provincial government, or the central government of
the Islands. It shall be his duty to procure a certified copy of the
tax assessment list from each municipality of the province and file the
same in his office and to make an alphabetical index thereof, which
list and alphabetical index shall be a public record. He shall have the
power to appoint as many deputies and clerks in his office as he may
deem necessary, after he has obtained the approval of the provincial
board and the Treasurer of the Philippine Islands. Such deputies and
clerks shall be selected under the provisions of the Civil Service Act.
He shall have authority to require a bond from each of his deputies in
a penal sum equal to the largest amount of public funds of every kind
such deputy is likely to have in his custody at any one time. He shall
act as collector of internal revenue for the province, and as such
shall report to the Collector of Internal Revenue for the Islands, and
shall make such settlements and deposits as are now required by law. He
shall be the custodian of the funds of the province, and shall pay no
money out of the provincial treasury except upon warrants drawn in
accordance with law, which duly endorsed by the payee named therein
shall be his voucher for the payment. He shall render an account before
the fifth of each month to the provincial board of the transactions of
his office for the preceding month and shall include among other
things, the amount of cash on hand at the beginning of the month, and
the receipts during the month from every source, the payments during
the month and on what accounts and the balance of cash on hand at the
close of the last day of the month. The provincial board shall examine
such accounts and if found correct it shall so certify on the face of
the account. The provincial treasurer shall forward one copy of the
monthly account to the Insular Treasurer and another to the Auditor of
the Islands. He shall prepare and forward to the Insular Treasurer a
report of the transactions of his office for each fiscal year ending
June thirtieth, with detailed accounts of receipts and expenditures on
or before August first, of each year, and shall present one copy of
such report to the provincial board and another to the Auditor of the
Islands. It shall be the duty of the Insular Treasurer, by himself or
deputy, to subject the books, papers, vouchers, and cash of every
provincial treasurer to an examination at least once a quarter and the
report of the examining officer shall be made in duplicate. One copy
shall be filed in the office of the Insular Treasurer, and the other
shall be sent by the Insular Treasurer to the provincial board. The
provincial treasurer shall deposit with the Insular Treasurer all funds
collected by him on account of the Insular Government within thirty
days after the collection of the same.
Sec. 10. The provincial supervisor shall have
supervision over the construction, repair, and maintenance of the
roads, bridges, and ferries of the province, except those within the
inhabited portions of the pueblos and barrios thereof. It shall be the
duty of the supervisor, by agreement with the president of each
municipality in accordance with this section, to fix the territory
within which the duty of repairing, constructing, and maintaining
roads, bridges, and ferries shall fall upon the municipal government,
and that in which that duty shall fall upon the provincial government,
and in case of disagreement the issue shall be settled by reference to
the provincial board hereinafter constituted, whose decision shall be
final. The provincial supervisor shall also have charge of the
construction and repair of the public buildings and offices of the
provincial government, and be the custodian thereof under direction of
the provincial board. All contracts for the construction, repair, and
maintenance of buildings, roads, bridges, or ferries shall be let by
the provincial supervisor, with the approval of the provincial board,
and no payment, partial or final, upon any contract made for such work
shall be made except upon the certificate of the supervisor that the
same is due. Before a contract is let for work, it shall be the duty of
the supervisor to prepare proper plans and specifications and to make
an estimate of the cost thereof, and submit the same to the provincial
boards hereinafter constituted. It shall be the duty of the supervisor
to make monthly reports to the provincial board of the condition of the
roads, bridges, and public buildings of the province, and to recommend
to it the repairs and new construction which are necessary. The
supervisor shall have power subject to the provisions of the Civil
Service Act to appoint such permanent assistants, clerks, and employees
in his office as may be approved by the provincial board. The number
and salaries of such employees shall be reported by the supervisor to
the Insular Treasurer, who shall have the same power to abolish any of
such offices and reduce salaries of the same as in the case of the
employees of the provincial governor. It shall be the duty of the
provincial supervisor to see that the roads, bridges, and public
buildings of the province are kept in proper repair. All stationery and
office supplies of every character shall be purchased by him upon the
order of the provincial board for the use of the provincial officers,
the Court of First Instance and its officers. He shall keep a property
account in which he shall charge the provincial officers with the
furniture or other personal property delivered to them and held or used
by them for public purposes and shall take receipts for all supplies
thus delivered by him.
Sec. 11. The provincial fiscal shall be the
attorney and legal adviser of the provincial government and of each of
its officers, when called upon, and they may require from him written
opinions. He shall represent the provincial government in all suits
brought on its behalf or against it in the courts of the province or in
the courts of any other province. He shall be the legal adviser of the
council and president of each municipality of the province, and shall
upon the request of any president or council submit in writing his
views upon any question properly arising in the discharge of their
public duties. He shall in the courts of the province represent the
public in all criminal cases and perform such duties with reference to
the institution of all criminal prosecutions as the Code of Criminal
Procedure shall require. In cases where the interests of any
municipality and of the provincial government are opposed, he shall act
on behalf of the provincial government, and the municipality shall be
obliged to employ special counsel. The Attorney-General shall represent
the provincial government, except as hereinafter provided, in all suits
for or against it, which shall come into the Supreme Court; but if he
deems it necessary he may authorize the provincial fiscal to assist him
in the hearing of the cause before the Supreme Court. In suits by the
government of one province against the government of another, the
Attorney-General shall take no part, and, the provinces engaged in the
litigation shall be represented in the Supreme Court by their
respective provincial fiscals. When any criminal case is appealed to
the Supreme Court, the provincial fiscal shall forthwith make a report
to the Attorney-General, explaining the question of law and fact
appearing therein and the conclusions of the court; and if the
Attorney-General directs, the provincial fiscal shall appear in such
criminal cases in the Supreme Court on appeal. The Attorney-General
shall have general supervision of all provincial fiscals, shall prepare
rules for their guidance, may require reports from them as to the
condition of public business in the courts of their respective
provinces and shall make an annual report through the Military Governor
to the Commission of the conditions of the public business in
litigation throughout the Islands.
Sec. 12. The following officers of the provincial
government, to wit: the governor, the treasurer, and the supervisor
shall constitute the provincial board. The governor shall be the
presiding officer of the board. The provincial secretary shall be the
secretary of the board and keep its minutes, but shall not be a member
thereof.
Sec. 13. It shall be the duty of the provincial
board:
(a) To fix the rate per centum of ad valorem taxation
to be imposed upon the real estate for the province for provincial
purposes within the limits hereinafter prescribed.
(b) To provide by construction or purchase or renting
suitable offices for the provincial officers, and a court house
containing a room or rooms suitable for the holding of court and for
offices for the court officers and a provincial jail in the
municipality fixed by law as the capital of the province.
(c) To furnish a suitable vault or safe to the
provincial treasurer in which he shall keep the provincial and other
public funds as long as they are in his custody, except as hereinafter
provided.
(d) To order, in its discretion, the construction,
repair, or maintenance of roads, bridges, and ferries within the
portions of the province fixed under section ten of this Act as within
its control on the recommendation of the provincial supervisor, and to
approve or reject contracts for such construction and repair, and the
construction and repair of provincial buildings let by the provincial
supervisor.
(e) To agree upon the recommendation of the
provincial supervisor 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.
(f) To direct, in its discretion, the bringing or
defense of suits on behalf of the provincial government and to
compromise the same upon the recommendation of the provincial fiscal
and the approval of the judge of First Instance for the province.
(g) To order the monthly payment of all salaries
provided by law and the payment of all lawfully contracted
indebtedness, by directing the issue of warrants upon the provincial
treasurer. Every warrant shall be drawn by the governor and
countersigned by the secretary, and shall recite the cause and purpose
of drawing the same, the date of the resolution of the board
authorizing it, and the page of the minutes of the board's proceedings
in which it is recorded. Should the provincial treasurer deem any
warrant drawn to be for an unlawful or unwarranted purpose, he may
suspend payment of the warrant and refer the question to the Treasurer
of the Islands, whose decision shall be mandatory upon him.
(h) To authorize the provincial 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 weekly
balances of provincial funds held by it to the provincial governor and
to the Treasurer of the Islands.
(i) To levy upon the real estate of the province for
provincial purposes, an annual tax of not exceeding three-eighths of
one per cent upon the value of the same as assessed in accordance with
the Municipal Code. Of the three-eighths thus permitted to be levied,
one-eighth of one per cent shall be levied in any event only for the
construction and repair of roads and bridges in the province, and even
if the board fails to levy the same, the treasurer is required to
collect it, and, when collected, it shall be used only for the purpose
for which it is levied. The remaining two-eighths of one per cent, or
any part thereof, may be levied in the discretion of the board and
applied to any purpose authorized by this Act.
(j) To hold regular weekly meetings upon 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.
(k) To provide for the appointment of other
subordinate employees under the various provincial officers and to fix
their salaries, but such order of the board shall not have effect until
notice thereof shall have been given to the Treasurer of the Islands
and it shall receive his approval.
(l) To adopt rules regulating the hours of employment
of the subordinates in the various provincial offices.
(m) To provide a seal for the province.
Sec. 14. No contract for construction of a road,
bridge, or of a public building shall be entered into until the
provincial treasurer shall certify that there is in the provincial
treasury a sum sufficient to meet the estimated cost of the
construction of the improvement which may be lawfully devoted to such
purpose; and after such certificate shall be made and filed and the
contract entered into, the provincial treasurer shall treat the sum
thus certified as not subject to warrant except to meet the obligations
of the contract.
Sec. 15. All work of repair, construction, or
equipment of roads or buildings involving a greater cost than five
hundred dollars in money of the United States shall be let to the
lowest responsible bidder, after ten days' public notice of the letting
by advertisement in a paper of general circulation in the province, or,
if there is no such paper, by a notice posted for ten days at the main
entrance to the supervisor's office in the capital of the province. If
the provincial board shall regard the contract to be let and the work
to be done of sufficient magnitude, it may authorize the supervisor, in
addition to giving the public notices above required, to advertise for
bids in a newspaper published in the city of Manila. The supervisor is
authorized to reject any or all bids, and if the bids are too high, he
may recommend to the board that he be allowed to purchase the material
and hire the labor and himself supervise the work and the board may
then authorize such a course.
Sec. 16. In the supervision which the Insular
Treasurer is hereinbefore enjoined to exercise over the provincial
treasurers, he shall prepare printed rules for their guidance and shall
prescribe the method in detail for the keeping of their books, the
forms of receipts to be given by them for taxes and other money coming
into their hands, and the forms of monthly, annual and other reports to
be made by them. The books, accounts, papers and cash of provincial
treasurers shall be at all times open to the inspection of the Insular
Treasurer or the Auditor of the Islands or the duly authorized agent of
either. The accounts and offices of each provincial treasurer shall be
audited at least once a year by the Auditor for the Islands or his duly
authorized agent. In case an examination by either the Insular
Treasurer, the Auditor for the Islands, or the duly authorized agent of
either shall disclose a defalcation of the provincial treasurer, it
shall be the duty of the examining officer, not being the Insular
Treasurer, forthwith to notify the Insular Treasurer, who shall by
himself or deputy at once seize the office, the books, papers,
vouchers, and cash of such provincial treasurer and hold the same until
the amount due from him shall be exactly determined by examination and
a correct account stated. Upon the seizure, the sureties of the
defaulting officer shall be notified forthwith by the Insular
Treasurer. Suit shall be brought at once by the provincial fiscal to
recover the amount due upon the official bond of the defaulting
officer, and in such suit the account stated by the Insular Treasurer
shall be prima facie evidence of the amount of indebtedness on the
bond. Criminal proceedings shall also at once be instituted against the
defaulting officer.
Sec. 17. 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 the
Municipal Code, and the same procedure for appeals from the board of
municipal assessment to the board of tax appeals shall be open to a
taxpayer, who disputes the legality of the provincial taxes, as is
afforded by the Municipal Code in respect to the municipal taxes. All
the provisions of the Municipal Code for the assessment of the value of
taxable property, for the enforcement of the collection of taxes and
the sale of property for delinquent taxes, together with the redemption
of land so sold, 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.
Sec. 18. Until March first, nineteen hundred and
two, of the taxes collected under the present internal revenue and
forestry laws by the Internal Revenue Collector and his deputies in the
province, after January first, nineteen hundred and one, one-fourth
shall be paid into the provincial treasury to be used for provincial
purposes, and at least one-third of each one-fourth shall be devoted to
the repair and construction of roads in the province. Collections
derived from persons cutting timber on government land under the
forestry laws shall be regarded for the purpose of this section as
collected in the province where the timber is cut, although actually
collected at Manila or some other place. The amount due under this
section to any province shall be fixed by the Collector of Internal
Revenue of the Islands after examination of the records of his office
and those of the Bureau of Forestry. He shall certify the amount thus
fixed to the Insular Treasurer to the proper provincial treasurer; and
if the money has been paid into the Insular Treasury through the
Military Governor, to the Commission for the necessary appropriation.
If the money has not been paid into the Insular Treasury and remains in
the hands of the provincial treasurer as provincial collector of
Internal Revenue, it shall be paid into the provincial treasury as
funds of the province.
Sec. 19. Should the military governor have reason
to believe that any provincial officer is guilty of disloyalty,
dishonesty, oppression or misconduct in office, he may suspend him from
the discharge of the duties of his office and shall report the
suspension with its grounds, to the Commission. The Commission after
due notice to the suspended officer shall investigate the cause of
suspension, and either remove him from office, or reinstate him, as the
circumstances may require; but such suspension or removal shall not
prevent the institution of criminal proceedings under the Criminal
Code; every provincial officer shall be subject to prosecution for a
criminal act committed by him in Courts of First Instance in the same
manner as any other person.
Sec. 20. In case it should be necessary to take
private property for the purpose of constructing roads or erecting
public buildings, and no agreement with the owner or owners can be
arrived at as to the purchase price which is satisfactory to the Board,
the Board shall have power to declare that the property is needed for
public uses and to institute, as provided by law, condemnation
proceedings to appropriate the same for the use of the province.
Sec. 21. Vacancies in provincial offices, created
by removal or death, shall be filled by appointment by the Commission
within thirty days after the vacancy occurs. After the office of
provincial governor shall become elective, such appointments to a
vacancy in that office shall be only for the remainder of the term of
the person whose death or removal causes the vacancy. In case of the
death or removal of a provincial treasurer, the Insular Treasurer shall
at once take charge of the office, books, papers and cash of the late
incumbent and forthwith notify the sureties on his official bond, state
the accounts of such officer with the municipal, provincial and Insular
governments and make report of the same to the provincial board and to
the Military Governor. If there is any deficit in the balance on hand,
the report shall also be transmitted to the provincial fiscal, who
shall bring suit forthwith against the sureties on the bond of the late
incumbent to recover the amounts shown to be due from him. The account
stated by the Insular Treasurer shall be prima facie evidence of the
amount due from such provincial treasurer.
Sec. 22. The short title of this Act shall be "The
Provincial Government Act."
Sec. 23. This Act shall take effect on its passage.
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