An Act Amending the Charter of the City of Manila

October 9, 1903

ACT NO. 936

AN ACT AMENDING THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF MANILA BY ADDING AS EX OFFICIO MEMBERS TO THE MUNICIPAL BOARD THE PRESIDENT OF THE ADVISORY BOARD AND THE CITY ENGINEER

SECTION 1. Sections four and ten of Act Numbered One hundred and eighty-three, entitled "An Act to incorporate the city of Manila," are hereby repealed and in lieu thereof the following sections are substituted:

"SEC. 4. Government of City Vested in Municipal Board. — The government of said city is hereby vested in a Municipal Board, consisting of five members, three to be appointed by the Civil Governor, by and with the consent of the Commission, and to be removable in the same manner, and two ex officio members, to wit, the president of the Advisory Board and the City Engineer. One member of the Board shall be designated in the appointment of the Governor as president and shall preside at all meetings of the Board. He shall sign all ordinances, resolutions, bonds, contracts, and obligations made or authorized by the Board, and shall issue such orders and instructions as may be necessary to carry out and enforce the ordinances of the city, and the orders of the Board relating thereto. In case of sickness or prolonged absence of any member of the Board, or if for any reason it becomes necessary to maintain a quorum or to break a tie, the Civil Governor may make temporary appointment until the return of such absent member or members. The person so appointed shall possess all the rights and perform all the duties of a member of the Board.

"The City Engineer as ex officio member of the Board shall receive no compensation in addition to that received by him as City Engineer. The president of the Advisory Board shall receive the same salary as that received by the members of the Board appointed by the Civil Governor, but he shall not receive any per diem allowance as a member of the Advisory Board. The ex officio members shall be required to give bonds for the faithful performance of their duties in the same form and amount as those required of the appointed members."

"SEC. 10. Method of Transacting Business by Board. — The Board shall meet and transact business every day during the year, Sundays and legal holidays excepted. It shall sit with open doors unless otherwise ordered by affirmative vote of three members. It shall keep a record of its proceedings, and determine its rules of procedure not herein set forth. Three members of the Board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and three affirmative votes shall be necessary to the passage of any ordinance or motion. The ayes and noes shall be taken and recorded upon the passage of all ordinances, upon all propositions directing payment of money or creating liability, and, at the request of any member, upon any other proposition. Each ordinance shall be sealed with the city seal, signed by the president of the Board and the secretary, and recorded in a book kept for that purpose. Each ordinance shall be published in two daily newspapers of Manila, one printed in English and the other in Spanish, within three days after its passage, and shall take effect and be in force on and after the tenth day following its passage, if no date is fixed in the ordinance."

SECTION 2. The members of the Municipal Board appointed under the Act to which this Act is an amendment shall continue to act as members of the Board described in the preceding section without new appointments, and the Board as at present constituted shall continue to exercise its present authority until the new members herein authorized shall qualify and become members of the Board as provided in this Act.

SECTION 3. The secretary of the Municipal Board is hereby authorized to employ an additional clerk of Class A, to be paid from the appropriation for salaries and wages for the Municipal Board.

SECTION 4. 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 5. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

ENACTED, October 9, 1903.