[ Act No. 500, November 10, 1902 ]
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF A PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT IN THE ISLAND OF MINDORO, DEFINING THE LIMITS OF THAT PROVINCE, AND REPEALING ACT NUMBERED FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE, ENTITLED "AN ACT EXTENDING THE PROVISIONS OF THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT ACT AND ITS AMENDMENTS TO THE ISLAND OF MINDORO AND INCORPORATING THAT ISLAND WITH THE PROVINCE OF MARINDUQUE. "
By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:
Section 1. A provincial government is hereby established in the Province of Mindoro, and Act Numbered Four hundred and twenty-three, extending the provisions of the Provincial Government Act and is amendments to the Island of Mindoro and incorporating that island with the Province of Marinduque, is hereby repealed.
Section 2. The Province of Mindoro shall consist of the Island of Mindoro and the small islands adjacent thereto, including the Island of Lubang.
Section 3. The officers.of the provincial government of Mindoro shall be a provincial governor, at a salary of two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars per annum; a provincial secretary, at a salary of one thousand five hundred dollars per annum; a provincial supervisor-treasurer, at a salary of two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars per annum; and a provincial fiscal, at a salary of one thousand four hundred dollars per annum; all in money of the United States or its authorized equivalent in local currency.
No person shall be eligible to any of these offices who is not a citizen of the United States, or a citizen of the Philippine Islands, and no person shall be eligible for any of these offices, who, having taken the oath of allegiance to the United States, shall have violated the same. Non residence in the province shall not render the person appointed or elected to office ineligible.
Section 4. The officers of the province shall be appointed by the Civil Governor by and with the advice and consent of the 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 Calapan, Island of Mindoro, until suitable accommodations can be constructed at Puerto Galera, which is hereby made the capital of said province. Their successors shall be appointed and removed in the manner as in this section provided.
Section 5. After March first, nineteen hundred and three, the provincial secretary and the provincial supervisor-treasurer, as vacancies occur, shall be selected under the provisions and restrictions of the Civil Service Act. The provincial secretary shall be able to speak and write the Spanish language, and after January first, nineteen hundred and six, the English language also. Before the provincial supervisor-treasurer can qualify he shall give a bond to the Government of the Philippine Islands, for the benefit of whom it may concern, with sufficient security, in the sum of ten thousand dollars, the 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 this bands as supervisor-treasurer or into those of bis authorized deputies during his incumbency in case of death or removal, until the settlement of his accounts by the Auditor for the Philippine Archipelago. This 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 the purpose, and shall safely keep the same. The Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago shall exercise the same supervision over the office of the supervisor-treasurer as lie exercises over the offices of the 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 ____________________________________, in the Province of Mindoro, 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 the United States; and 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 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 supervisor-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 a provincial government in the Province of Nueva Vizcaya," as amended by Act Numbered Three hundred and eighty-eight, but he shall not exercise the powers of a judge of the Court of First Instance.
Section 8. The provincial secretary shall attest all the official acts of the provincial governor under the seal of the province and shall record all those of the governor's acts which are required by law to be recorded. He shall be the custodian of the provincial seal. He shall receive from the provincial governor and file in his office all reports to the provincial governor required by law, and shall index the same, and he shall generally act as custodian of all provincial records and documents. He shall, on demand, furnish certified copies of all public records and documents, for which he may charge as personal compensation, in addition to his regular salary, the amount of ten cents, local currency, per one hundred words, including the certificate. In case of a vacancy in the office of governor, or the absence of the governor from the province, the secretary shall discharge the duties of the governor dining such vacancy or absence or until the vacancy shall be filled as provided in this Act.
Section 9. The supervisor-treasurer shall be the chief financial officer of the province. He shall fix the day or days during each month from January fifteenth to June thirtieth of each year on which the people of the several townships may appear before him or his deputies to pay their taxes: Provided, That the last day so fixed shall be the thirtieth of June of each year. He shall in person, or by authorized deputy, supervise the appraisement and assessment of real property in all the townships or settlements of the province in the manner provided in "An Act providing for the establishment of local civil governments in the townships and settlements of the Province of Nueva Vizcaya," except whore otherwise especially provided. He shall by himself or deputy, collect all taxes imposed upon property or persons in the province either by the townships or settlements of the province, except fees for the granting of the privileges of fisheries, the issuing of certificates of ownership of large cattle, and of the transfer of title to the same, tolls from ferries operated by the township, fees from township stables, township pounds, township markets, township slaughterhouses, township bath houses, and township cemeteries; license fees for theatrical performances, horse raws, circuses, cockpits and cocktighting, and the training of fighting cocks; which shall be collected by the township treasurer in the manner prescribed by ordinance of the township council. It shall be his duty to procure a certified copy of the tax-assessment list from each township or settlement of the province, and file the same in his office, and to make an alphabetical index thereof, which list and alphabetical index shall be a public record. He shall have power to employ such deputies and assistants in discharging his duties as he may deem necessary, subject to the approval of the provincial board, and their salaries shall be fixed by the provincial supervisor-treasurer, with like approval. The number and salary of such employees shall be reported by the supervisor-treasurer to the Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago at the close of each month, who shall have power to abolish such offices or reduce salaries so as to secure economy of expenditure, and no increase shall be made in the number of employees or the amount of the salaries after having been once fixed by the Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago before his approval of the proposed increase shall have been obtained: Provided, That after March first, nineteen hundred and three, such deputies and clerks shall he selected in accordance with the rules and restrictions of the Civil Service Act. The provincial supervisor-treasurer shall have authority to require a bond from each of his deputies in a penal sum equal to the largest amount of public funds of every kind that such deputy is likely to have in his custody at any one time.
He shall be the custodian of the funds of the province, and shall pay no money out of the provincial treasury except upon warrants drawn in accordance with law, which, duty indorsed by the payee named therein, shall be his voucher for their payment. He shall render an account before the fifth of each month to the provincial board of the transactions of his office for the preceding month, and shall include, among other things, the amount of cash on hand at the beginning of the month and the receipts during the month from every source, the payments during the month and on what accounts paid, and the balance on hand at the close of the last day of the month. The provincial board shall examine such accounts, and if found correct shall so certify on the face of the accounts. He shall forward a copy of his monthly accounts, so approved, to the Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago, and another to the Auditor for the Philippine Archipelago. The reports or accounts-current submitted to the Auditor shall be accompanied, by all their supporting vouchers to enable the Auditor to settle and adjust the same and certify the balance thereon. Such accounts-current, vouchers, and paid warrants shall be as prescribed by the rules prepared under the Provincial Government Act as amended. The provincial supervisor-treasurer shall retain a copy of his accounts-current and of the supporting vouchers.
He shall also perform the duties of registrar of property pending the appointment of such registrar for the province under the Land Registration Act.
The provincial supervisor-treasurer shall have supervision of the construction, repair, and maintenance of the roads, bridges, and ferries of the province. He shall also have charge of the construction and repair of public buildings and the offices of the provincial government, and shall be the custodian thereof under direction of the provincial board. All contracts for the construction, repair, and maintenance of buildings, roads, bridges, or ferries shall be let by the provincial supervisor-treasurer, with the approval of the provincial board, and no payment, partial or final, upon any contract made for such work shall be made except upon the certificate of the supervisor-treasurer that the same is due. Before a contract is let for work it shall be the duty of the supervisor-treasurer to prepare proper plans and specifications, and to make an estimate of the cost thereof, and to submit the same to the provincial board. Copies of all contracts made by the supervisor-treasurer, with the approval of the provincial board, shall be forwarded by the supervisor-treasurer to the Auditor for the Philippine Archipelago. He shall make monthly reports to the provincial board as to the condition of the roads, bridges, and public buildings of the province, and shall recommend to the board the repairs and new construction which are necessary. It shall be the duty of the provincial supervisor-treasurer to see that the roads, bridges, and public buildings of the province are kept in proper repair. All stationary and office supplies of every character shall be pure-based by him, upon the order of the provincial board, for the use of the provincial officers. He shall keep a property account, in which he shall charge the provincial officers with the furniture or other personal property delivered to them and held or used by them for public purposes, and shall take receipts for all supplies thus delivered by him.
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, the provincial secretary, and the provincial supervisor-treasurer shall constitute the provincial board. The governor shall be the presiding officer of the board. The secretary shall be its secretary and keep the minutes.
Section 13. It shall be the duty of the provincial board:
(a) To provide by construction, purchase, or renting suitable offices for the provincial officers, and a court-house containing a room or rooms suitable for the holding of court and for offices for the court officers, and a provincial jail in the municipality fixed by law as the capital of the province. The provincial building shall first be used for the purpose of affording sufficient office room to all the provincial officers. If, after supplying this necessary office room, the building affords sufficient accommodation for the residence of the governor of the province, he may occupy the building for this purpose. The assignment of rooms for offices and the residence of the governor in the provincial building shall be made by the provincial board.
(b) To furnish a suitable vault or safe to the provincial supervisor-treasurer, in which he shall keep the provincial or other public funds as long as they are in his custody, except as hereinafter provided.
(c) To order, in its discretion, the construction, repair, or maintenance of roads, bridges, or ferries within the province on the recommendation of the provincial supervisor-treasurer, and to approve or reject contracts for such construction or repair, and the construction or repair of provincial buildings let by the provincial supervisor-treasurer. No contract for the construction of a road, bridge, or of a public building shall be entered into until the provincial supervisor-treasurer shall certify that there is in the provincial treasury a sum sufficient to meet the estimated cost of the construction of the improvement which may be lawfully devoted to such purpose; and after such certificate shall be made and filed and the contract entered into, the provincial supervisor-treasurer shall treat the sum thus certified as not subject to warrant except to meet the obligations of the contract.
All work of repair, construction, or equipment of roads or buildings involving a greater cost than five hundred dollars in money of the United States shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder, after ten days' public notice of the letting by advertisement in a paper of general circulation in the province, or if there is no such paper, by a notice posted for ten days in the main entrance of the provincial supervisor-treasurer's office in the capital of the province. If the provincial board shall regard the contract to be let and the work to be done of sufficient magnitude, it may authorize the supervisor-treasurer. in addition to giving the public notices above required, to advertise for bids in a newspaper published in the city of Manila. The supervisor-treasurer is authorized to reject any or all bids, and, if the bids are too high, he may recommend to the board that he be allowed to purchase the material and hire labor and himself supervise the work, and the board may then authorize such a course.
(d) To direct, in its discretion, the bringing or defense of suits on behalf of the provincial government of Mindoro, and to compromise the same on the recommendation of the provincial fiscal and the approval of the judge of First Instance, for the district.
(e) To order the monthly payment of all salaries, provided by law, and the payment of all lawfully contracted indebtedness, by directing the issue of warrants upon the provincial treasury. Every warrant shall be drawn by the governor and countersigned by the supervisor-treasurer, and shall recite the cause and purpose of drawing the same, the date of the resolution authorizing it, and the page of the minutes of the board's proceedings on which it is recorded. Should the provincial supervisor-treasurer deem any warrant drawn to be for an unlawful or unwarranted purpose, he may suspend payment and refer the question to the Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago, whose decision shall be mandatory upon him.
(f) To authorize the provincial supervisor-treasurer to deposit so much of the provincial funds as may not be needed in the near future for public use in a bank of deposit of approved standing in the Islands. All interest paid on such deposit shall inure to the benefit of the provincial treasury, and no funds shall be deposited in the bank by the supervisor-treasurer until there shall be spread upon the minutes of the board a resolution reciting and approving the exact terms of the contract or deposit in the bank. The bank shall certify the weekly balances of provincial funds held by it to the provincial governor and to the Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago.
(g) To hold regular weekly meetings upon a day to be fixed by the board, and special meetings upon the rail of the governor. The meetings of the board shall be open to the public.1aшphi1
(h) To provide for the appointment of subordinate employees by the various provincial officers, and to approve or disapprove their salaries; but such order of the board shall not have effect until notice thereof shall have been given to the Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago and it shall receive his approval.
(i) To adopt rules regulating the hours of employment of the subordinates in the various offices.
(j) To provide an official seal for the province.
Section 14. All the provisions of section thirteen of 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, arc hereby made applicable to the Province of Mindoro.
Section 15. (a) The actual and necessary traveling expenses of the deputies, subordinates, and other employees of provincial officers engaged in traveling in the province on official business shall be paid from the provincial treasury when authorized by the provincial board and approved by the Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago. The same limitation as to the amount of the expenses per day which applies to the traveling expenses, of the provincial officers shall apply to those herein authorized.
(b) In applying the statutory limitation upon the amount per day which can be actually expended and reimbursed to provincial officers and their subordinates for expenses in traveling on official business for the province, the total actual traveling expenses for each quarter shall be added together and divided by the number of days of the quarter during which the officer or his subordinates has been absent on public business in the province from the capital thereof; and if the amount, per day thus calculated and averaged for the quarter docs not exceed the limitation of maximum per diem expenses hereinbefore authorized, the whole amount actually expended shall be allowed to the officer or his subordinate.
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 oath to be taken by officials and electors, the disqualifications from voting, the methods of conducting elections and issuing certificates of elections 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 supervisor-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 lo declare the value of their property for the purposes of taxation, the right of the provincial governor, the provincial supervisor-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 supervisor-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 us 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 Mindoro.
Wherever the provincial secretary-treasurer or the provincial supervisor is mentioned in such sections, for the purposes of this Act it shall be read provincial supervisor-treasurer, except in section sixty-four, where the words provincial secretary-treasurer shall be read provincial secretary.
Section 17. In the year nineteen hundred and three 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 thirty-first days of July, and property owners shall be subject to the fine provided for failure to declare the value of their property within the period fixed, it they fail to make their declarations on or before the first day of August. The supervisor-treasurer shall prepare the list of persons from whom tuxes are due on or before the first day of September, nineteen hundred and three, and taxes may be paid between the first and the thirty-first days of December, nineteen hundred and three, on the 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 four.
Section 18. The governor of the Province of Mindoro 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, within the Province of Mindoro 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 Mindoro.
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, November 10, 1902.
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