An Act Amending Act Numbered Thirteen Hundred and Ninety-Seven, Entitled "The Township Government Act," so as to Authorize the Collection of Certain License Fees, to Provide a Method of Enforcing the Payment of the Property Tax by Delinquents Who are Absent from the Province or are Nonresidents Thereof, and to Provide that the Popular Representative Shall Continue to be a Resident of the Province During His Term of Office

August 19, 1907

ACT NO. 1689

AN ACT AMENDING ACT NUMBERED THIRTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-SEVEN, ENTITLED "THE TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT ACT," SO AS TO AUTHORIZE THE COLLECTION OF CERTAIN LICENSE FEES, TO PROVIDE A METHOD OF ENFORCING THE PAYMENT OF THE PROPERTY TAX BY DELINQUENTS WHO ARE ABSENT FROM THE PROVINCE OR ARE NONRESIDENTS THEREOF, AND TO PROVIDE THAT THE POPULAR REPRESENTATIVE SHALL CONTINUE TO BE A RESIDENT OF THE PROVINCE DURING HIS TERM OF OFFICE

SECTION 1. Paragraph (k) of section thirty-eight of Act Numbered Thirteen hundred and ninety-seven, entitled "The Township Government Act, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"(k) License public carriages, carts, and hearses kept for hire; cafés, restaurants, hotels, inns, and lodging houses; horse races; and license, regulate, or prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors, subject to the provisions of Act Numbered Sixteen hundred and thirty-nine."

SECTION 2. Paragraph (a) of section forty-three of said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"(a) Fees for the granting of the privilege of fisheries, the privilege of keeping dogs, and for licensing public carriages, carts, and horses kept for hire; cafés, restaurants, hotels, inns, and lodging houses; horse races; and saloons, bars, or drinking places for the sale of intoxicating liquors."

SECTION 3. Section fifty-four of said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 54. On the basis of the declaration made and of the findings of the board of assessors, if any, the secretary shall prepare, on or before February fifteenth of each year, a list of the persons from whom a property tax is due, with the amount of such tax due from each of them. This list shall be kept open to public inspection in his office. All persons from whom a property tax is due shall be notified by the councilors of their respective barrios to appear before the secretary and learn the amount of such tax, which shall be stated to them verbally by the secretary, if they can not read: PROVIDED, That in case of residents temporarily absent from the province, and nonresidents of the province, it shall be sufficient if a written notice be deposited, postage paid, in the post-office addressed to the owner, at his last known place of residence, or if no place of residence be known then to the barrio and municipality in which the property is situate."

SECTION 4. Section fifty-six of said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 56. All persons who have not paid their property taxes in full on or before the thirty-first day of July of each year, shall be deemed delinquent taxpayers, after such delinquent shall have been adjudged, upon due notice to the alleged delinquent, by court provided for in section eighteen, subsection (g). If any taxpayer shall fail to pay the delinquent taxes adjudged against him within twenty-four hours after judgment, he shall be made to satisfy the amount due by labor upon public works within the township at a rate per day to be fixed by the provincial board with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior first had, either performing such work in person or providing a substitute to perform it: PROVIDED, That at any time after he or his substitute shall have begun work he may secure release from obligation to work by payment of the amount of the tax originally due in full: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That if such delinquents are absent from the province or are nonresidents of the province all the provisions of sections seventy-five to eighty-six, inclusive, of the Municipal Code, as amended, shall apply and be enforceable as to them and their property."

SECTION 5. Paragraph (b) of section sixty-five of said Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(b) At its first convention during any calendar year the assembly of presidents of the townships and settlements organized under the provisions of this Act in any province shall have the right to elect a popular representative, who shall be chosen by a majority vote of all the presidents present and who shall be a resident of the province at the time of his election and shall continue to be a resident thereof while serving as popular representative."

SECTION 6. 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. AHDacC

SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

ENACTED, August 19, 1907.