An Act Requiring Persons whom the Collector of Customs has Reasonable Grounds for Believing Guilty of Aiding Insurrection Seeking to Land in the Philippines to Take an Oath of Allegiance and Prescribing Punishment for the Violation Thereof

October 15, 1901

ACT NO. 265

AN ACT REQUIRING PERSONS WHOM THE COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS HAS REASONABLE GROUNDS FOR BELIEVING GUILTY OF AIDING INSURRECTION SEEKING TO LAND IN THE PHILIPPINES TO TAKE AN OATH OF ALLEGIANCE AND PRESCRIBING PUNISHMENT FOR THE VIOLATION THEREOF

SECTION 1. Any person whom the collector of customs of any port of the Philippine Islands has reasonable ground to believe guilty of having aided, abetted, or incited insurrection in these Islands against the authority and sovereignty of the United States herein, or against the government constituted by the United States herein, or of coming to these Islands for that purpose, and who, coming from a foreign country, seeks to land at such port, shall not be permitted to land until after he shall take and subscribe before the collector or his authorized deputy the following oath:

"I hereby solemnly swear that I acknowledge the sovereignty and authority of the United States in the Philippine Islands and of the government constituted by the United States herein, and that while in the Islands I will support and maintain the same, and that I will not at any time hereafter or at any place aid, abet, or incite resistance to the authority of the United States or of the government established by the United States in these Islands, and that I take this oath voluntarily without any mental reservation whatsoever. So help me God."

In case the person shall refuse to take and subscribe such oath, he shall be detained in custody until the departure of the next steamer leaving for the port from which he last came, and then shall be deported at the expense of the Insular Government. The Collector of Customs may, while awaiting the sailing of the proper steamer, turn the person over to the police authorities of the port where the landing is sought to be made for safe custody.

SECTION 2. Any person who, having taken and subscribed the oath prescribed in the foregoing section, shall thereafter aid or abet resistance to the authority of the United States in these Islands or of the government established herein by the United States, or who shall incite in any manner whatsoever others to take up or continue in arms against the authority and sovereignty of the United States in these Islands or of the government established herein by the United States, shall be deemed guilty of perjury and shall be punished by imprisonment at hard labor for not less than two and not more than ten years.

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.

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

ENACTED, October 15, 1901.