An Act Making Appropriations for Public Works

February 15, 1918

ACT NO. 2736

AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR PUBLIC WORKS

SECTION 1. The following sums, or so much thereof as may be necessary, are hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for public works as mentioned hereunder, and for other purposes of the Insular Government.

NON-CHRISTIAN AND SPECIAL PROVINCES.
(a)	For the construction, improvement, and
	extension of telephone lines	P50,000.00
(b)	For aid to local governments in the
	construction of a simple type of sanitary
	public market	25,000.00
(c)	For the construction and improvement of
	public buildings and for other purposes	30,000.00
(d)	For the maintenance and repair of those
	portions of the Manila North road declared
	as first-class road which traverse territory
	of the Mountain Province	70,000.00
(e)	For the construction, improvement, and
	maintenance of trails, roads, and bridges in
	the non-Christian and special provinces	500,000.00
(f)	For the construction, reconstruction,
	improvement, investigations, and surveys
	of ports, wharves, piers, retaining walls, jetties,
	dams, and dredgings in the non-Christian and
	special provinces	100,000.00
(g)	For the construction, improvement, and
	maintenance of irrigation systems in the
	Mountain Province	8,000.00
BUREAU OF EDUCATION.
(h)	For the construction of normal schools
	and the purchase of grounds for the same	300,000.00
(i)	For Insular aid in the construction of
	buildings for central, barrio, intermediate,
	and agricultural schools	250,000.00
(j)	For aid in the construction of provincial schools	200,000.00
(k)	For permanent improvements in the
	Central Agricultural School of Luzon at
	Muñoz, Nueva Ecija	P30,000.00
(l)	For an irrigation system in the Central
	Agricultural School of Luzon at Muñoz,
	Nueva Ecija, in three annual allotments,
	second allotment	20,000.00
(m)	For the purchase, survey, and registration
	of land and the construction, improvement,
	and maintenance of buildings for agricultural
	schools and dormitories, in the non-Christian
	and special provinces	100,000.00
(n)	For the construction of a high school
	building in the city of Manila, providing
	said city appropriate on its part sufficient
	funds to complete said construction	100,000.00
BUREAU OF HEALTH.
(o)	To complete the construction of the
	insane ward at San Lazaro Hospital	40,000.00
(p)	To be added to the sum of P7,500
	appropriated in the year 1917 for the hospital
	at Tacloban, Leyte: Provided, That both
	sums shall be used for the construction of a
	new building or for the improvement of the
	one now existing, including the purchase of land	10,000.00
(q)	For the purchase, survey and registration
	of land, improvement of the grounds, and
	construction, improvement, and maintenance
	of the buildings of the hospitals in the
	non-Christian and special provinces	30,000.00
(r)	To reimburse the Province of Bulacan for
	the money expended for improvements of the
	Sibul baths and for the payment of the land
	expropriated for this purpose	26,000.00
BUREAU OF CUSTOMS.
(s)	To improve the facilities for loading and
	discharging cargo and for the safekeeping
	of the merchandise at the ports of entry	75,000.00
BUREAU OF AGRICULTURE.
(t)	For the construction of temporary buildings,
	sheds, fences, and coops	25,000.00
BUREAU OF FORESTRY.
(u)	For the construction of six forestry stations	5,000.00
(v)	For the construction of a road from the
	College of Agriculture to the Forestry
	School at Los Baños	10,000.00
BUREAU OF LANDS.
(x)	For the maintenance, alteration, and
	repair of the irrigation systems on the
	friar estates	33,900.00
BUREAU OF PUBLIC WORKS.
(y)	For the construction, improvement,
	and where necessary, for the maintenance
	of roads and bridges in such regularly
	organized provinces as shall accept the
	provisions of Act Numbered Sixteen hundred
	and fifty-two, or which by a resolution of the
	provincial board shall guarantee by continuing
	annual appropriations the establishment of such
	a system of maintenance as may be necessary in
	the opinion of the Director of Public Works, on
	all first-class roads at present constructed or
	which in the future may be constructed, and are
	so declared by the Director of Public Works,
	to be apportioned in proportion to the number
	of cedulas sold in each province in the year 1917	P1,100,000.00
(z)	For the construction, improvement, and,
	where necessary, the maintenance of roads
	and bridges in the provinces which by resolution
	of the provincial board shall guarantee by
	continuing annual appropriations the
	establishment of such a system of maintenance
	as may be necessary in the judgment of the
	Director of Public Works on all first-class
	roads now constructed or which may be
	constructed in the future and declared as
	such by the Director of Public Works	1,500,000.00
	Provided, That a sum not to exceed
	P20,000 shall be set aside for the
	construction of a road between Sibul
	and Biak-na-bato, subject to the condition
	that the Province of Bulacan, or the
	municipality of San Miguel, or both,
	appropriate on their part sufficient funds
	to complete said construction.
(aa)	For contribution to the city of Manila
	toward the construction of a bridge across
	the Pasig River which shall bear the name
	of William Atkinson Jones, of Virginia, in
	recognition of his services on behalf of the
	Filipino people, on the condition that said
	city shall on its part appropriate sufficient
	funds to complete said construction	500,000.00
(bb)	For the construction, improvement and,
	where necessary, for the maintenance of
	interprovincial roads and bridges, including
	roads and bridges connecting one coast with
	another in the same province, between the
	provinces which by resolution of the provincial
	board shall guarantee by continuing annual
	appropriations the establishment of such a
	system of maintenance as may be necessary
	in the judgment of the Director of Public
	Works on all first-class roads now constructed
	or which may be constructed in the future
	and declared as such by the Director of
	Public Works	P400,000.00
(cc)	For the construction, repair, reconstruction,
	improvement, investigations, and surveys
	of ports, wharves, piers, retaining walls,
	jetties, dams, and for dredgings, in the
	different districts of the Archipelago,
	including the purchase of necessary equipment,
	and the continuation of wharves and other
	improvements projected by former laws	600,000.00
	Provided, That subject to the approval of
	the Secretary of Commerce and
	Communications and with such security as
	the same may require, material derived from
	dredging may be used for filling in private
	property at the request of any landowner,
	upon the condition that the cost thereof
	shall be paid by the owner of the land
	in annual payments not to extend over
	more than five years.
(dd)	For the drilling of artesian wells,
	including the purchase of necessary
	equipment, and for the study and
	construction of Insular, provincial,
	and municipal systems of waterworks,
	and for the investigation, construction,
	reconstruction, and extension of baths
	and other sanitary improvements for
	the development and exploitation of
	properly tested and approved mineral
	springs in places of public resort,
	whenever the provinces and municipalities
	concerned shall adopt resolutions for
	the appropriation of funds covering the
	cost of one-third part of the work	650,000.00
	Provided, That the funds appropriated
	by provinces and municipalities to cover
	the cost of one-third part of the work shall
	be covered into the Insular Treasury when
	the Director of Public Works shall have paid
	the cost thereof: And provided, further,
	That any municipality or province which
	by virtue of the provisions of this Act shall
	incur the expense of an artesian well resulting
	in a failure, shall have the amounts expended
	returned to it: And provided, finally, That
	the amount allotted to a municipality or
	province as Insular aid shall in no case
	exceed the sum of twenty-five thousand pesos.
(ee)	For the investigation, survey, construction,
	reconstruction, and improvement of
	irrigation systems, including the purchase
	of the necessary land and equipment	P1,000,000.00
	Provided, That the use of water for private
	land shall be subject only to such rules and
	regulations as may be prescribed by the
	Irrigation Council, the provisions of Acts
	Numbered 1854, 2152, and 2652 to the
	contrary notwithstanding.
(ff)	For such expenses as may be authorized
	while this Act is in force and effect, for
	the construction of a building for
	the use of the Legislature, for the
	proposed offices and rooms at Malacañan
	Palace, for a post-office building, for an
	arts and trades school, and for a nurses'
	dormitory for the General Hospital; for
	other Insular buildings of minor importance,
	not to exceed in each case twenty-five
	thousand pesos, and for the purchase and
	improvement of the necessary land	2,000,000.00
(gg)	For the maintenance, alteration, and
	repair of public buildings	300,000.00
(hh)	For the expenses in the investigation
	of applications for irrigation or water
	rights and river control investigations
	submitted to the Irrigation Council	25,000.00
(ii)	For the maintenance of ports and
	esteros, including equipment	325,000.00
(jj)	For the maintenance of the Pasig
	River from the Jones Bridge to the
	Laguna de Bay	35,000.00
BUREAU OF POSTS.
(kk)	For the construction, reconstruction,
	repair, and maintenance of telegraph
	lines and submarine cables and of
	wireless telegraph stations	300,000.00
BUREAU OF COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY.
(ii)	For the acquisition and installation
	of a wireless telegraph apparatus
	on a vessel assigned to the Bureau
	of Coast and Geodetic Survey	15,000.00
BUREAU OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.
(mm)	For the construction and reconstruction
	of light houses, buoys, and beacons	30,000.00
(nn)	For the maintenance, alteration, and
	repair of light houses, buoys, and beacons	30,000.00
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES.
(oo)	For the construction of a building to
	be known as Rizal Hall, in accordance
	with new plans	300,000.00
(pp)	For the construction of a building
	for the College of Veterinary Science	P20,000.00
(qq)	For the construction of a building
	at the College of Agriculture	30,000.00
		——————
	Total of appropriations made by
	this section	11,197,900.00
		===========

 

SECTION 2. The sums appropriated by subsections (a), (b), (c) and (g) of section one of this Act shall be distributed in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior; those appropriated by subsections (h), (i), (j), (m), and (q) shall be distributed in the discretion of the Secretary of Public Instruction; those appropriated by subsections (t), (u), and (x) shall be distributed in the discretion of the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources; that appropriated by subsection (s) shall be distributed by the Secretary of Finance; and those appropriated in subsections (d), (e), (f), (z), (bb), (cc), (dd), (ee), (ff), (gg), (ii), (kk), (mm), and (nn) shall be distributed in the discretion of the Secretary of Commerce and Communications. DcHSEa

SECTION 3. All balances of the several appropriations made by this Act and by other previous public works Acts that remain unexpended or the destination of which has not yet been determined by the Department concerned on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and nineteen, shall be reverted to the unappropriated funds in the Insular Treasury, and thereafter shall not be available for expenditure except upon appropriation by the Legislature.

SECTION 4. Whenever the Secretary of Finance shall believe that the probable revenues of the Insular Government will not be sufficient to cover the projects provided for in this Act, he shall so report to the Governor-General who, upon the recommendation of the Department Secretaries acting jointly, is hereby authorized to suspend in whole or in part, temporarily or definitely, the construction of any specified project or projects provided for in this Act, until otherwise ordered by the Legislature.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on its approval.

Approved: February 15, 1918.