An Act to Authorize the Township of Baguio, Sub-Province of Benguet, Mountain Province, to Provide for Street, Sewer, Water, and Other Improvements, and Levy and Collect the Expenses thereof by General, Special, or Local Assessment

June 15, 1909

ACT NO. 1957

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE TOWNSHIP OF BAGUIO, SUB-PROVINCE OF BENGUET, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE, TO PROVIDE FOR STREET, SEWER, WATER, AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS, AND LEVY AND COLLECT THE EXPENSES THEREOF BY GENERAL, SPECIAL, OR LOCAL ASSESSMENT

SECTION 1. The municipal council of the township of Baguio, sub-province of Benguet, Mountain Province, is hereby authorized:

(a) To provide for laying out, opening, extending, widening, straightening, closing up, or constructing, in whole or in part, any plaza, square, street, trail, park, sewer, sewer connection or connections, waterworks, water mains, or water connections either on, in, or upon public or private property: Provided, That no change shall be made in the existing park system either by closing any existing park or opening any new one or by changing the size of any existing park or relating to improvements thereone or the use thereof by the public or otherwise without the previous approval in writing of the committee on the development of the Baguio Reservation and control and management of the park system designated by resolution of the Philippine Commission of March thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seven, as amended;

(b) To fill up or require to be filled up to a grade necessary for proper sanitation any and all lands and premises which may be declared and duly reported by the Bureau of Health as being unsanitary by reason of being below such grade or which, in the opinion of said council, the public health or welfare may require;

(c) To provide for ascertaining whether any, and what amount in value, of damage will be cause, or benefit will accrue to the owner or possessor of anyland, premises, or improvements, whether public or private, within said township by reason of any such work and for which such owner or possessor should be compensated, or should pay a compensation, and to provide for assessing, levying, and collecting either generally on the whole assessable property within the township specially on the property benefited, or on all the property within any stated area or district within the bounds of said township which it may create and establish for any such purpose, the whole, or any part of the amount of damages and expenses which, as so ascertained, will be incurred in and about any such work or construction as aforesaid within the bounds of said township; DETACa

(d) To provide for the payment of such compensation as may be found to be due to any person or persons entitled thereto;

(e) To provide, when the owners or possessors of such lands premises, or improvements shall not properly and fully pay to such official and at such time or times and manner as it shall fix therefor any amount or amounts which may be found and declared to be due as and for such assessment as aforesaid, for filing in the proper and appropriate registers or records of property declarations of such amounts so found due, which amounts shall in each and all cases and upon and after such filing, be and become liens upon and against such lands, premises, or improvements; that said liens shall have and take precedence over all other liens of every kind and nature whatsoever whether antecedent or subsequent in point of time, save and except annual or other regular tax liens; and that said liens shall be enforced and collected by the same officials, in the same manner and under the same penalties as to time and interest as annual or other regular tax liens, and shall when so paid or collected, be paid in and credited to the appropriate assessment fund, whether general or special, and be disbursed therefrom in such and no other manner as shall be provided in the ordinance creating such assessment and fund;

(f) To enact and repeal any and all ordinances necessary to carry into effect the powers herein granted and enforce the same by imposing penalties for the violation of ordinances, but no single penalty shall exceed a fine of two hundred pesos or imprisonment for six months, or both; imprisonment shall be imposed in lieu of unpaid fines at the rate of one day's imprisonment for each peso of the fine: Provided, That no ordinance shall provide for more than one project of and of the kinds named herein, nor create more than the one district, assessment, and fund necessary and appropriate therefor: And Provided Further, That in each and every such ordinance provision shall be made for notice to any and all person interested, giving them and each of them not less than two weeks, from and after the date of depositing a notice in the post-office at Baguio in a securely sealed post-paid wrapper addressed to each person affected thereby and assessed thereunder at his last known place of residence, or at Baguio if no place or residence is known, or to an agent who may be or may have been appointed by such person in writing, in which to appear and file objection to either the work itself, the method or manner of assessment, the time or times and method of payment therefor, or to all thereof, and such other and further objections as may seem to any such person or persons reasonable and proper in the premises; such notice shall set forth the nature of the proposed improvement, the estimated cost thereof, the total amount of the assessment to be levied therefor, and the amount to be levied upon each parcel of the property or possession of the addressee; any and every such appearance and objection shall be made and heard only before the township council, and said council may, at any such hearing, alter, modify, or increase the area of such district, the total assessment thereof, or any individual area or assessment objected to therein, and shall decide any and every such objection within ten days after the filing thereof and give notice of such decision to the person or persons interested in the manner hereinbefore provided for notice of such assessment within five days thereafter: And Provided Further, That all assessments levied by virtue of this Act shall be levied only upon the basis of the value of the land benefited and not upon improvements thereon, and that all valuations of any and all lands and premises made under the provisions hereof and for the purposes herein stated shall be the valuations thereof last regularly made for the purposes of annual taxation.

SECTION 2. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.

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

ENACTED: June 15, 1909.