An Act to Amend Act Numbered One Hundred and Thirty-Six, as Amended, by Providing a Salary of Two Thousand Four Hundred Pesos Per Annum for the Justice of the Peace of Cebu and Iloilo, and by Allowing Each of Said Justices Two Clerks to be Paid by the Respective Municipalities

October 3, 1907

ACT NO. 1741

AN ACT TO AMEND ACT NUMBERED ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX, AS AMENDED, BY PROVIDING A SALARY OF TWO THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED PESOS PER ANNUM FOR THE JUSTICE OF THE PEACE OF CEBU AND ILOILO, AND BY ALLOWING EACH OF SAID JUSTICES TWO CLERKS TO BE PAID BY THE RESPECTIVE MUNICIPALITIES

SECTION 1. Section seventy-one of Act Numbered One hundred and thirty-six, entitled "An Act providing for the organization of courts in the Philippine Islands," as amended by Act Numbered Fourteen hundred and fifty and Act Numbered Sixteen hundred and twenty-seven, is hereby amended to read as follows: ITAaHc

"SEC. 71. Audit and settlement. — All fines and costs imposed by a justice of the peace in criminal prosecutions and all fees charged in suits or for any other service, and collected during any month, shall be paid, on the first day of the month succeeding their collection, to the municipal treasurer (in the city of Manila, to the Collector of Internal Revenue), to whom, at the same time, the justice shall present a detailed statement of the amounts thus collected by him since his last previous report and of the amount accruing to him from the municipal treasury during the same period. His account shall forthwith be audited by the municipal treasurer and president (in Manila, by the Insular Auditor) and he shall thereupon receive from the treasury the amount of his emoluments as allowed by such audit not exceeding for any month the monthly salary allowed by law to the president of the municipality: PROVIDED, That in the city of Manila the justice of the peace shall receive, in lieu of all fees, the salary now fixed by law: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That in the municipality of Cebu, Province of Cebu, and in the municipality of Iloilo, Province of Iloilo, the justice of the peace shall receive, in lieu of all fees, a salary of two thousand four hundred pesos per annum. The auditors above mentioned shall examine the records of the justice of the peace and any other papers or persons deemed necessary, and all mutilated or spoiled receipts must be accounted for and turned in by said justice. But it shall not be necessary for the justice to prove the insolvency of parties who have failed to pay costs taxed against them. If said auditors are of the opinion that needless prosecutions have been instituted for the purpose of enhancing fees, they shall report the facts to the judge of the Court of First Instance."

SECTION 2. Section seventy-five of said Act Numbered One hundred and thirty-six, as amended by Act Numbered Sixteen hundred and twenty-seven, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 75. Service of process; officers. — The president of the municipality shall serve, or cause to be served, through the municipal police force, any process issued by the justice of the peace thereof and delivered to said president. Process of the justice may also be served through the same channels as process from the Court of First Instance, and civil process, other than executions, may be served by any person designated by the justice for that purpose. The justice of the peace of Manila shall be allowed two clerks with salaries to be fixed in the annual appropriation Act for said city. The justice of the peace of the municipality of Cebu, Province of Cebu, and the justice of the peace of the municipality of Iloilo, Province of Iloilo, shall each be allowed two clerks with salaries of six hundred pesos and three hundred pesos, respectively, to be paid by the respective municipalities."

SECTION 3. Section seventy-six of said Act Numbered One hundred and thirty-six, as amended by Act Numbered Fourteen hundred and fifty and Act Numbered Sixteen hundred and twenty-seven, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 76. The auxiliary justice of the peace shall have the same qualifications and be subject to the same restrictions as the regular justice, and shall perform the duties of said office during any vacancy therein or in case of the absence of the regular justice from the municipality, or of his disability or disqualification, or in case of his death or resignation until the appointment and qualification of his successor, or in any cause whose immediate trial the regular justice shall certify to be specially urgent and which he is unable to try by reason of actual engagement in another trial. The auxiliary justice for such time as he shall perform the duties of justice shall receive the compensation which would have accrued to the office of justice: PROVIDED, That the auxiliary justice of the city of Manila, the auxiliary justice of the municipality of Cebu, Province of Cebu, and the auxiliary justice of the municipality of Iloilo, Province of Iloilo, shall each receive for the trial of each cause certified to him by the regular justice, as above provided, the sum of three pesos, which amount shall be deducted from the salary of the regular justice."

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. CHTAIc

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

ENACTED, October 3, 1907.