[ Act No. 488, October 25, 1902 ]
AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION OF THE SUM OF SIXTY-FIVE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE DOLLARS AND SIXTY-FIVE CENTS, IN LOCAL CURRENCY, FOR EXPENDITURE IN THE DISCRETION OF THE CIVIL GOVERNOR IN THE PROVINCES OF BATANGAS AND LA LAGUNA AND THE ISLAND OF MINDORO, AND AUTHORIZING THE SALE, RENTAL, OR DISTRIBUTION OF ARTICLES PURCHASED THEREUNDER, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:
Section 1. Whereas there was realized from certain operations by General J. F. Bell, the Military Commander in the Provinces of Batangas and La Laguna and the Island of Mindoro, during the recent insurrection of a portion of the inhabitants of said territory, a profit arising on account of sales of rice and other food products to the people of said provinces and island, amounting to the sum of sixty-five thousand nine hundred and sixty-five dollars and sixty-five cents, local currency, which sum will be deposited in the Insular treasury; and whereas it is desirable to use the said fund for the benefit of the people in the locality of the provinces and island wherein the said profit accrued, the said sum of sixty-five thousand and hundred and sixty-five dollars and sixty-five cents, local currency, is hereby appropriated, to become available as soon as deposited, to be expended in the discretion of the Civil Governor of the Philippine Islands in such manner and by such agencies and under such rules and regulations as he may direct, in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
Section 2. The said sum hereby appropriated may be expended for the following objects:
(a) For the purchase of foodstuffs for sale or distribution.
(b) For the purchase of farm and garden seeds and plants for sale or distribution.
(c) For the purchase of agricultural tools, implements, and devices for cultivating and irrigating the soil, for sale or distribution.
(d) For expenses in promoting agricultural experiments in connection with the Bureau of Agriculture, including the rent of land, houses, and animals, and other contingent expenses in connection therewith.
(e) For the purchase of animals for breeding and domestic purposes with a view to improving the broods of domestic animals, for sale or distribution.
(f) For the purchase and operation o[ traction engines and cars for use in transporting freight and passengers along the roads in said territory.
(g) For the construction, maintenance, and repair of roads in said provinces and island.
(h) For expenses in combating epidemics, such as plagues, cholera, and smallpox affecting people, rinderpest and other epidemic or contagious diseases affecting animals, and plagues affecting crops.
(i) For the employment of such clerical assistance and labor of all kinds and for the payment of such traveling expenses as may be required for the proper execution of the purposes of this Act.
(j) And for such other purposes as in the discretion of the Civil Governor of the Philippine Islands may be deemed just and wise and for the benefit of the people, of the said provinces and island.1aшphi1
Section 3. The Civil Governor may in his discretion request the Commanding General of the Division of the Philippines to detail an officer of the Army of the United Staff's to take charge of the entire purchase, sale, or distribution of the articles and merchandise to be purchased under this Act, and to account to the Auditor for his transactions thereunder. Such officer is authorized to intrust, to other military officers designated by proper military authority the purchase, sale, and distribution of the merchandise and articles purchased, hereunder. He is further authorized to designate municipal officers and other persons to assist in the sale or distribution of the merchandise or articles purchased under this Act in the various localities of the provinces and island above named, and the municipal officers and other persons so designated shall be entitled to receive such compensation as the officer detailed and appointed as above shall deem just and reasonable compensation for their services, and the fact that the municipal officers may receive a regular compensation for their services as such municipal officers shall not disentitle them, to receive the compensation provided herein.
Section 4. The officer or officers charged with the disbursement of the funds herein appropriated are authorized to sell at current market rates or to distribute, under such regulations as the Civil Governor may prescribe, any article or articles purchased or procured under the provisions of paragraphs (a) and (b) of section two, or to rent for a reasonable hire any article or articles purchased or procured under the provisions of paragraphs (c) and (f) of said section, or to sell the, same at not loss than their cost price, or to transport freight and passengers, as provided in paragraph (f) of said section two, under such tariff rates as may be approved by the Civil Governor.
Section 5. All receipts and revenues derived from such sales, rents, and tariffs shall be deposited in the insular Treasury and shall revert to the appropriation made in this Act, and all deposits in the Insular Treasury on this account shall be as repayments to said appropriation and so credited on the books of the Auditor for the Philippine Archipelago, and subject to withdrawal from the Treasury.
Section 6. The moneys appropriated by this Act and derived from its operations shall be used and expended, in the provinces and island in which the revenue accrued, and may be withdrawn from the Treasury in United States currency at the authorized rate, in accordance with the provisions of section three of Act Numbered Four hundred and thirty.
Section 7. The officer or officers charged with the disbursement of the funds herein appropriated, and with receiving the revenues from the sources herein named, shall render monthly accounts of their transactions to the Auditor for the Philippine Archipelago, in accordance with the provisions of Act Numbered Ninety, and other Acts in harmony therewith, and under such additional regulations as the Auditor may prescribe, pursuant to the provisions of rule twelve of said Act Numbered Ninety.
Section 8. In like manner, returns of property which may be purchased, found at station or otherwise acquired, shall be rendered to the Auditor in conformity to the provisions of Act Numbered Two hundred and fifteen of the Philippine Commission.
Section 9. Purchase of property may be made under the provisions of this Act without reference to Act Numbered One hundred and forty-six of the Philippine Commission.
Section 10. Any municipal officer or other person engaged in the sale and distribution of the rice and other articles whose sale or distribution is provided for herein, may be required before accepting such trust and employment to give a bond in a sum to be fixed by the officer having charge of the distribution hereunder for the province or island, conditioned upon a faithful performance of his duty in accordance with the regulations lawfully prescribed for his conduct. In case of a violation of the conditions of the bond, the same may be forfeited in the discretion of the officer having charge of the transactions under this Act for the province or island, and the penalty of the bond may be recovered against the offending municipal officer as liquidated damages for his violation of the regulations. Any municipal officer or other person who accepts employment and compensation as an agent in the sale or distribution of the articles whose sale or distribution is provided for in this Act, who shall violate the regulations prescribed for his conduct in accordance with the terms of this Act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable by a fine not exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars, in local currency, or by imprisonment at hard labor for not exceeding six months, or by both, in the discretion of the court.
Section 11. 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 12. This Act shall take effect on its passage.
Enacted, October 25, 1902.
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