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

January 25, 1902

ACT NO. 336

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

SECTION 1. Section four of Act Numbered Eighty-three, being the Provincial Government Act, and subsection (b) of section one of Act Numbered Three hundred and twenty, amendatory thereof, are hereby amended by striking out all of said section four of Act Numbered Eighty-three and all of subsection (b) of section one of Act Numbered Three hundred and twenty, and substituting in lieu thereof as a part of said Act Numbered Eighty-three, the following:

"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, at eight antemeridian of said day, the vice-president and councilors of every duly organized municipality in the province shall meet in joint convention at the capital of the province. The convention shall be called to order by the secretary of the province, and thereupon such convention shall proceed by secret ballot to the selection of four tellers, whose duty it shall be at all stages of the subsequent proceedings to receive and count the ballots as cast. The presiding officer of the convention shall announce the result of such ballots as stated to him by said tellers. After the selection of said tellers, the next order of business shall be the selection by the convention, by secret ballot, of a presiding officer and secretary. The next order of business shall be the selection of a provincial governor, who shall also be chosen by the convention by secret ballot. A majority of the members of the convention present and entitled to vote shall be necessary to elect. The action of the convention shall be forwarded to the Civil Governor by the secretary of the convention, after being duly certified by the presiding officer of the convention and by the secretary. The Civil Governor shall then confirm the selection of the person named unless it shall be found that he was unfairly elected, that he is ineligible, or that there is reasonable ground to suspect his loyalty to the constituted authorities. If the Civil Governor shall decline to confirm the person named, the convention shall be reconvened at a time fixed by him and a second election had. If the person selected at the second election as governor is not confirmed, then the Civil Governor shall appoint a provincial governor, by and with the consent of the Commission. The term of the governor thus elected or appointed shall begin on the first Monday in March, and continue for two years thereafter, or until his successor shall have been duly selected and qualified. The actual and necessary expenses of transportation of the vice-presidents and councilors in going to the capital and returning therefrom, for the purpose of selecting a provincial governor as above provided, shall be paid by the respective municipalities of such vice-presidents and councilors out of the municipal funds. The accounts of such expenses of transportation, however, shall be audited by the provincial treasurer and approved by him before the same are paid. The provincial board is authorized in case of necessity to charter a vessel or make other arrangements for the transportation of the vice-presidents and councilors, and apportion the expenses thereof among the several municipalities."

SECTION 2. The provincial governors heretofore appointed under the last paragraph of section four of Act Numbered Eighty-three as originally enacted shall not be affected by the amendment as set forth in section one hereof, but shall continue to hold their respective offices with all the rights, powers, duties, and obligations pertaining thereto under said Act Numbered Eighty-three, or any Acts amendatory thereof, until their successors are duly elected or appointed and qualified.

SECTION 3. 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. SCaITA

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

ENACTED, January 25, 1902.