An Act Providing for the Use of Rinderpest Vaccine in the Control of Rinderpest and other Contagious and Infectious Cattle Diseases, Appropriates the Sum of One Hundred Thousand Pesos, and for Other Purposes

October 2, 1924

ACT NO. 3166

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE USE OF RINDERPEST VACCINE IN THE CONTROL OF RINDERPEST AND OTHER CONTAGIOUS AND INFECTIOUS CATTLE DISEASES, APPROPRIATES THE SUM OF ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND PESOS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

SECTION 1. The Director of Agriculture is hereby authorized and empowered to require, whenever and wherever he deems it necessary for the control of rinderpest and other contagious and infectious cattle diseases, livestock owners to have their animals injected against rinderpest with rinderpest vaccine, serum or virulent blood, or such other substances he may deem adequate for the prevention of contagion and infection from other diseases, or a combination of substances at the discretion of the livestock owners.

SECTION 2. The Director of Agriculture is hereby authorized to prescribe the necessary and proper rules and regulations in order to accomplish the purpose of this Act; and for this purpose, he or his duly authorized representatives shall also have authority to compel and require all livestock owners or persons in representation of said livestock owners in the places where general injection of animals has been decided upon by the Director of Agriculture, after a consultation with the provincial governor and the president of the municipality concerned, to construct and build the stocks, sheds, or inclosures which said livestock owners or their duly authorized representatives may require, and to assemble their animals at such time and place that the provincial governor and the municipal president shall determine: Provided, That if a disagreement should arise at the consultation, the decision of the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources shall be final: Provided, further, That the construction and building of the said stocks, sheds, or inclosures shall be chargeable if necessary, in the judgment of the Director of Agriculture or his duly authorized representative, against the fund appropriated in this Act. IHSTDE

SECTION 3. When the general injection of animals against rinderpest has been decided upon in any province by the Director of Agriculture, after a consultation with the provincial governor and the president of the municipality concerned, it shall be the duty of the provincial governor and the municipal presidents of the province concerned to cooperate with the Director of Agriculture in the strict enforcement of the regulations and orders made and prescribed under the provisions of this Act.

SECTION 4. Any person who refuses to submit his animal for injection against rinderpest or other contagious and infectious cattle disease or who contravenes any of the provisions of this Act or any lawful regulations made hereunder, or who obstructs or impedes or assists in obstructing or impeding the Director of Agriculture or other authorized officers in the execution of any of the provisions of this Act or of any regulations and orders issued hereunder, shall be liable to prosecution, and upon conviction shall for each offense be punished by imprisonment of not exceeding one month or by a fine of not more than one hundred pesos, or by both at the discretion of the court.

SECTION 5. There is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of one hundred thousand pesos to be allotted from time to time as the need thereof may arise by the Department Head to the Bureau of Agriculture, for the purpose set forth in this Act.

SECTION 6. The funds herein appropriated shall be expended for the purchase of animals, equipment, supplies, and medicines required for the manufacture of the rinderpest vaccine, serum, and virulent blood; for salaries and wages of additional technical and other personnel connected with the manufacture and application of these products; and for rents and freights: Provided, That any balance of the funds herein appropriated at the end of each fiscal year shall not revert to the Insular Treasury but shall be used for the purposes for which it is appropriated until exhausted.

SECTION 7. The appropriation of one hundred thousand pesos herein provided shall be excepted from the provisions of Joint Resolution Numbered One of the Legislature, approved on March the sixteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty-three.

SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect on its approval.

Approved, October 2, 1924.