An Act to Amend Sections Eleven Hundred and Seventy-Two and Twelve Hundred and Two of the Administrative Code, as Amended by Act Numbered Twenty-Seven Hundred and Sixty-One

March 23, 1920

ACT NO. 2912

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS ELEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-TWO AND TWELVE HUNDRED AND TWO OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE CODE, AS AMENDED BY ACT NUMBERED TWENTY-SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE

SECTION 1. Section eleven hundred and seventy-two of the Administrative Code, as amended by section one of Act Numbered Twenty-seven hundred and sixty-one, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 1172.  Certificate of Philippine Register. — Upon registration of a vessel of domestic ownership, and of more than fifteen tons gross, a certificate of Philippine register shall be issued for it. If the vessel is of domestic ownership and of fifteen tons gross or less, the taking of the certificate of Philippine register shall be optional with the owner.

"'Domestic ownership,' as used in this section, means ownership vested in some one or more of the following classes of persons: (a) Citizens of the Philippine Islands; (b) citizens of the United States residing in the Philippine Islands; (c) any corporation or company composed wholly of citizens of the Philippine Islands or of the United States or of both, created under the laws of the United States, or of any State thereof, or of the Philippine Islands, provided some duly authorized officer thereof, or the agent, master or administrator of the vessel resides in the Philippine Islands; (d) any corporation or company created under the laws of the United States, or of any State thereof, or of the Philippine Islands, provided some duly authorized officer thereof, or the agent, master or administrator of the vessel resides in the Philippine Islands: Provided, That the certificate of Philippine register issued to a vessel because the owner thereof comes under the provisions of this subsection (d), shall extend to the vessel the privilege of engaging only in the foreign or high-sea commerce but not in the Philippine coastwise trade.

"Any vessel of more than fifteen tons gross which on February eighth, nineteen hundred and eighteen, had a certificate of Philippine register under existing law, shall likewise be deemed a vessel of domestic ownership so long as there shall not be any change in the ownership thereof nor any transfer of stock of the companies or corporations owning such vessel to persons not included under the last preceding paragraph."

SECTION 2. Section twelve hundred and two of the same Code, as amended by section three of Act Numbered Twenty-seven hundred and sixty-one, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 1202.  Limiting number of foreign personnel on board vessels. — No Philippine vessel operating in the coastwise trade or on the high seas shall be permitted to have on board more than one master or one mate and one engineer who are not citizens of the United States or of the Philippine Islands, but the master, mate or engineer so employed must hold a license under section one thousand one hundred and ninety-nine hereof. No other person who is not a citizen of the United States or of the Philippine Islands shall be an officer or a member of the crew of such vessel. Any such vessel which fails to comply with the tonnage tax of fifty centavos per net ton per month during the continuance of said failure: Provided, That a vessel registered under section eleven hundred and seventy-two of this Code may be authorized to employ for its return voyage and only during the same, as many foreign seamen as may be required to replace any of its regular crew lacking for any of the causes indicated in section twelve hundred and twenty-seven of this Code: And provided, further, That nothing herein contained shall be construed as revoking or modifying any of the existing provisions of the Acts of the United States Congress regulating immigration."

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on its approval.

Approved, March 23, 1920.