[ Act No. 422, June 23, 1902 ]
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF A PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT IN THE PROVINCE OF PARAGUA, AND DEFINING THE LIMITS OF THAT PROVINCE.
By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that:
Section 1. A civil provincial government is hereby established for the Province of Paragua.
Section 2. The Province of Paragua shall consist of all that portion of the Island of Paragua north of the tenth parallel of north latitude and the small islands adjacent thereto, including Dumaran, and of the islands forming the Calamianes Group and the Cuyos Group.
Section 3. The officers of this government shall be a provincial governor, at a salary of one thousand six hundred dollars per year; a provincial secretary-treasurer, at a salary of one thousand five hundred dollars per year; a provincial supervisor, at a salary of one thousand two hundred dollars per year; and a provincial fiscal, at a salary of one thousand dollars per year, all in money of the United States, or its authorized equivalent in local currency. No person shall be eligible for either of these offices who is not either a citizen of the United States, native of the Philippine Islands, or a person who, not being a subject or citizen of any other government or power, may have, by virtue of the Treaty of Paris, acquired the political rights of a native of the Islands, or who, having taken the oath of allegiance to the United States, shall violate the same. Non-residence in the province shall not render the person appointed or elected to office ineligible.1aшphi1
Section 4. These officers shall be appointed by the Civil Governor, with the advice and consent of the United States Philippine Commission, and may be removed by him with the like advice and consent. They shall reside and have their offices in the municipality of Cuyo, in the Island of Cuyo. Their successors shall be appointed and removed in the manner in this section provided.
Section 5. After March first, nineteen hundred and three, the provincial secretary-treasurer, and the provincial supervisor, as vacancies occur, shall be selected under the provisions and restrictions of the Civil Service Act. The provincial secretary-treasurer shall be able to speak and write the Spanish language, and after January first, nineteen hundred and six, the English language also. The provincial supervisor shall be a competent civil engineer and surveyor. Before the secretary-treasurer shall qualify, he shall give a bond to the Insular Government, for the benefit of whom it may concern, with sufficient security in the sum of five thousand dollars, surety or sureties to be approved by the Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago. The bond shall be conditioned to secure the faithful performance of the duties of the office as now or hereafter prescribed by law, and for the accounting for all funds coming into his hands as secretary-treasurer or into those of his authorized deputies during his incumbency, and in the case of death or removal, until the statement of his accounts by the Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago. His bond shall, after its approval, be filed with the Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago, who shall record the same in a book to be kept for that purpose, and shall safely keep the same. The Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago shall exercise the same supervision over the office of secretary-treasurer that he exercises over the offices of provincial treasurers in provinces organized under the Provincial Government Act.
Section 6. Before assuming office, each provincial officer shall take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation:
" I, ................................, having been ........................ (appointed or elected, as the case may be) to the office of........................., in the Province of Paragua, do hereby solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will well and truly perform all the duties of said office; that I will faithfully account for all moneys coming into my hands as such officer; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Government of tin; United States; that I take this oath without any mental reservation whatsoever. So help me God. "
The oaths of office may be administered to provincial officers by a member of the United States Philippine Commission, its secretary, the governor of the province, any United States Army officer stationed in the province, the judge of the Court of First Instance within whose judicial district the said province lies, or any other judicial officer having jurisdiction therein. The oath shall be filed in the office of the secretary-treasurer for the province.
Section 7. The duties and powers of the provincial governor shall be the same as those provided for the provincial governor of the Province of Nueva Vizcaya, by virtue of section six of Act Numbered Three hundred and thirty-seven, entitled "An Act providing for the organization of provincial governments in the Province of Nueva Vizcaya," as amended by Act Numbered Three hundred and eighty-eight.
Section 8. The duties and powers of the provincial secretary-treasurer shall be such as are provided for the provincial secretary-treasurer of the Province of Nueva Vizcaya by virtue of section seven of said Act Numbered Three hundred and thirty-seven as amended by Act Numbered Three hundred and eighty-eight.
Section 9. The duties and powers of the provincial supervisor shall be such as are provided for the provincial supervisor for the Province of Nueva Vizcaya by virtue of section eight of said Act Numbered Three hundred and thirty-seven.
Section 10. The duties and powers of the provincial fiscal shall be such as are provided for the provincial fiscal of the Province of Nueva Vizcaya by virtue of section nine of Act Numbered Three hundred and thirty-seven; and in case of the absence or neglect, or failure from neglect or refusal to discharge his duties by reason of illness or personal interest in the prosecution, or for any other cause, a temporary fiscal may be appointed in the manner provided in said section nine of said Act Numbered Three hundred and thirty-seven, with the powers therein defined.
Section 11. The salaries herein provided shall be paid monthly, so that one-twelfth of the annual salary shall be paid on the last day of each calendar month. Each provincial officer shall be allowed his necessary and actual traveling expenses, not exceeding three dollars per day, money of the United States, while absent from the capital of the province on official business; the allowance shall be made by the provincial board upon the certificate of the officer that the travel was necessary for the public business, and shall not be paid until the account, accompanied by a resolution of the board approving the same shall be forwarded to the Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago, and by him approved.
Section 12. The provincial governor, provincial secretary-treasurer, and the provincial supervisor shall constitute the provincial board. The governor shall be the presiding officer of the board. The secretary-treasurer shall be the secretary and keep its minutes.
Section 13. The provincial board shall have the powers and duties provided for the provincial board of the Province of Nueva Vizcaya by virtue of section twelve of said Act Numbered Three hundred and thirty-seven.
Section 14. All the provisions of section thirteen of said Act Numbered Three hundred and thirty-seven, relating to absence of provincial officials from the province, and to suspension, removal, or reinstatement of such officials, the appointment of temporary officials, and their compensation, and the filling of vacancies in provincial offices created by removal, resignation, or death, are hereby made applicable to the Province of Paragua.
Section 15. All the provisions of section fourteen of said Act Numbered Three hundred and thirty-seven relating to traveling expenses of deputies, subordinates, and other employees of provincial officers are hereby made applicable to the Province of Paragua.
Section 16. It shall be the duty of the provincial board, immediately after its organization, to proceed with the organization of all the pueblos of the province which have, in their opinion, a sufficient Christian or civilized population to warrant the maintenance of a municipal government therein, and upon completing such organization, shall make a report to the Civil Governor of the names of the pueblos so organized into municipalities, with the estimated civilized population in them and the manner in which the boundaries thereof have been designated. If the boundaries adopted by the board are the same as those that have heretofore existed under any organization made by the military authorities of the United States, or by Spanish authorities before American occupancy, the facts shall be stated. The manner of organizing such municipalities, the designation of the municipalities so organized, the powers and liabilities thereof, the division into barrios, the officials of the several pueblos or townships, the manner of election or appointment of such officials, the duties and powers of such officials, the qualifications of electors and officials, the oaths to be taken by officials and electors, the disqualifications from voting, the methods of conducting elections and issuing certificates of election to officials entitled thereto, the accounting to be rendered by all such officials, the compensation for the officials, the requirements of bonds from officials, the exemption of persons from the performance of the duties of offices to which they are elected, the manner of filling vacancies in any office, the term of office of all officers elected and appointed, the liability of officers to penalties and damages, the powers and duties and methods of procedure of township councils, the effect of ordinances enacted by township councils, the method of imposing taxes and the resources from which revenues shall be derived for townships, the times when license and privilege taxes shall be paid, and when such licenses and privileges shall terminate, and the penalties for failure seasonably to pay the same, the duties of the provincial secretary-treasurer as to keeping the records open to public inspection, and the names of all persons paying license or privilege taxes arranged alphabetically, the method of imposing penalties for failure to pay taxes, the right of the provincial governor to supervise all ordinances and rules passed by the township councils, the duty of the persons within the townships to declare the value of their property for the purposes of taxation, the right of the provincial governor, the provincial secretary-treasurer, and the president of the township council in which the property lies to reconsider the value so stated as a board of assessors, the procedure in case a property owner fails to declare the value of his property within the time fixed by law, and the penalties to be imposed for failure so to do, and the method of enforcing such penalties, the persons who shall be exempt from the payment of any property tax, the amount of the annual property tax, the requirements of cedulas as to each person paying taxes, the method of issuing cedulas, the requirements as to the production of cedulas and the consequences of failure to produce them, the preparation of lists of persons from whom the property tax is due and the amount of such taxes, and the notification to taxpayers in relation to such taxes, the time when such taxes shall be due, the method of collecting and enforcing payment thereof with or without penalties, the disposition of sums realized from taxes, the liability of the secretary-treasurer for uncollected taxes, the meetings of presidents of the several townships for the purpose of considering matters needed in the province and making recommendations to the provincial board, the determination of disputes as to the boundaries of townships, the right of the provincial governor to suspend any township official, the method of securing blank forms for the use of townships and of paying therefor, shall be such as are prescribed in sections one to sixty-seven, inclusive, with the exception of section sixty of Act Numbered Three hundred and eighty-seven, entitled "An Act providing for the establishment of local civil governments in the townships and settlements of Nueva Vizcaya," which Act in all its terms shall, so far as they are applicable, be controlling in the organization and carrying on of municipal governments in the Province of Paragua.
Section 17. In the year nineteen hundred and two the declarations as to the value of property for purposes of taxation required by the provisions of the preceding section shall be made between the first and fifteenth days of October, and property owners shall be subject to the fine provided for failure to declare the value of their property within the period fixed, if they fail to make their declarations on or before the thirtieth day of October. The secretary shall prepare the list of persons from whom taxes arc due on or before the fifteenth day of November, nineteen hundred and two, and taxes may be paid between the fifteenth day of December, nineteen hundred and two, and the first day of January, nineteen hundred and three, on days fixed as provided by the provisions of said Act Numbered Three hundred and eighty-seven. Unpaid taxes shall become delinquent on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and three.
Section 18. The governor of the Province of Paragua is hereby authorized, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to deal with and provide for the government of members of non-Christian tribes, including the Moros, within the Province of Paragua as herein defined, in the manner provided in sections sixty-eight, sixty-nine, seventy, and seventy-one of said Act Numbered Three-hundred and eighty-seven, which sections, so far as they are applicable, shall be controlling in governing non-Christian tribes in the Province of Paragua.
Section 19. 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 20. This Act shall take effect on its passage.
Enacted, June 23, 1902.
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