An Act to Amend Section 31 of Act No. 2152 as Amended by Section 12 of Act No. 3523

November 13, 1936

COMMONWEALTH ACT NO. 176

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION THIRTY-ONE OF ACT NUMBERED TWENTY-ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TWO AS AMENDED BY SECTION TWELVE OF ACT NUMBERED THIRTY-FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE

SECTION 1. Section thirty-one of Act Numbered Twenty-one hundred and fifty-two, as amended by section twelve of Act Numbered Thirty-five hundred and twenty-three, is hereby further amended to read as follows: DAEcIS

"SEC. 31. If at any time any irrigation works or portion thereof constructed by the National Government under the provisions of this Act shall be damaged, or destroyed, or shall be in danger of destruction, or serious damages by earthquake, fire, lightning, flood, tornado, typhoon, hurricane, war, or by other fortuitous event or force majeure, the same shall be upon approval of the President of the Philippines, repaired, reconstructed, improved from the insurance fund hereafter provided for in this section, and the costs of such repair, reconstruction or improvement shall not be charged against the landowners benefited.

"There is hereby authorized and created an irrigation insurance fund which shall be established and maintained as follows: The Secretary of Public Works and Communications shall instruct the Director of Public Works to add to the amount collectible from each owner of land irrigated by any such irrigation system operated under the provisions of this Act an amount not exceeding fifty centavos per hectare, which shall be covered into the Philippine Treasury and set aside as a special fund to be known as the 'Irrigation Insurance Fund,' which fund may be invested by authority of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, first, in financial transactions with relation to irrigation proceedings, and second, in the same manner and under the same conditions as other trust funds handled by the National Government may be invested; and the said fund, together with the accumulated interest thereon, shall be expended for the purposes and in the manner provided in this section and for no other purpose: Provided, That whenever said irrigation insurance fund shall exceed three hundred thousand pesos, the Secretary of Public Works and Communications may, at his discretion, order that no further collection shall be made until said fund shall have been reduced by expenditure as provided herein to less than one hundred and fifty thousand pesos: Provided, further, That whenever said irrigation insurance fund shall have all been expended or that no funds are available or can be made available therefrom for expenditures necessary for the purposes of this section, the Director of Public Works shall, with the approval of the President of the Philippines, advance such amounts as may be necessary, from the appropriation provided in section thirteen of Act Numbered Twenty-one hundred and fifty-two as amended by section four of Act Numbered Thirty-five hundred and twenty-three, for such expenditures not to exceed one hundred and fifty thousand pesos in any one year: Provided, finally, That the funds so advanced and so drawn shall be reimbursed from the irrigation insurance fund whenever sufficient collections on account thereof shall have been covered into the Philippine Treasury."

SECTION 2. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved, November 13, 1936.