An Act Amending Act Numbered Eighty-Three, Entitled "A General Act for the Organization of Provincial Governments in the Philippine Islands," and Acts Numbered One Hundred and Thirty-Three and Two Hundred and Twenty-Three, Amendatory Thereof

December 16, 1901

ACT NO. 320

AN ACT AMENDING ACT NUMBERED EIGHTY-THREE, ENTITLED "A GENERAL ACT FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS," AND ACTS NUMBERED ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE AND TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE, AMENDATORY THEREOF

SECTION 1. Act Numbered Eighty-three, entitled "A general Act for the organization of provincial governments in the Philippine Islands," and Acts Numbered One hundred and thirty-three and Two hundred and twenty-three amendatory thereof, are hereby amended as follows:

(a) By adding at the close of section three of Act Numbered Eighty-three the following words: "In case of the transfer or promotion of a provincial officer from one province to another, he shall continue to receive, from insular funds, the salary which he was receiving before his promotion, for the time necessarily occupied in making the transfer."

(b) By inserting the words "vice-president and" between the word "the" and the word "Councilors" in the third line from the beginning of section four of Act Numbered Eighty-three, so that the sentence shall read: "On the first Monday in February of the year nineteen hundred and two and of each second year thereafter, the vice-president and 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 provincial governor."

(c) By adding at the close of section ten of Act Numbered Eighty three the following words: "He shall give bond to the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands, for whom it may concern, to secure the proper accounting for all money, property, and supplies intrusted to his custody. It shall be the duty of the Civil Governor to fix the amount of the bond, and of the Insular Treasurer to approve the same and record and retain it in his custody."

(d) By inserting between section thirteen and section fourteen of Act Numbered Eighty-three a new section, numbered section thirteen and one-half, and reading as follows: "The provincial board of any province is hereby authorized, in its discretion, to extend for a period not exceeding two months the time within which the municipal boards of assessors within its province shall complete the listing and valuation of real property, by posting notices in four conspicuous places in each municipality of the province and at the door of the provincial building, stating that such postponement has been made. In the provinces where such postponement shall be made, the time when taxes on land and improvements shall become delinquent shall be postponed for a period equal to the period of the postponement with reference to the time for completing the listing and valuation of real property."

(e) By adding at the close of section twenty-five of Act Numbered Eighty-three, as amended by Act Numbered One hundred and thirty-three, the words "and tassels."

(f) By amending section thirty-four of Act Numbered Eighty-three, as amended by Act Numbered One hundred and thirty-three, to read as follows:

"SEC. 34. For the year nineteen hundred and two and succeeding years no person who shall pay to the province and municipality together, as taxes on real estate, or as an industrial tax, an amount in excess of one peso, shall be required to pay the cedula tax. But every person so exempted from the cedula tax shall be entitled to receive, and shall receive from the provincial treasurer, a cedula free of charge, to be used for the same purpose of identification and to avoid disqualification to testify, to execute an instrument, to vote or to hold office. Cedulas so issued shall be in the same form as those issued in return for the payment of one peso, and there shall be printed across their face the words 'Issued Free.'"

(g) Act Numbered Two hundred and twenty-three amending the Provincial Government Act is hereby amended by substituting for the words "section thirty-nine" in the third line of section three of said Act, the words "section forty;" and by renumbering each subsequent section added to the Provincial Government Act down to and including section forty-three which becomes section forty-four.

SECTION 2. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

ENACTED, December 16, 1901.