[ Act No. 610, February 02, 1903 ]
AN ACT TO AMEND ACT NUMBERED ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE, ENTITLED "AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT OF AN INSULAR CONSTABULARY AND FOR THE INSPECTION OF THE MUNICIPAL POLICE," AS AMENDED.
By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:
Section 1. Section six of Act Numbered One hundred and seventy-five, entitled "An Act providing for the organization and government of an Insular Constabulary and for the the inspection of the municipal police," is hereby amended by striking out the second sentence thereof and substituting in lieu thereof the following: "The guns, revolvers, and ammunition needed to equip the insular and municipal police shall be purchased by the Insular Purchasing Agent on the order of the Chief of Philippines Constabulary. The arms and ammunition thus purchased shall be distributed to the constabulary of each province by the Chief of Philippines Constabulary as they may be needed. Arms and ammunition may be distributed to the municipal police by the governors of the provinces on the specific approval of the Civil Governor and upon the making of such provision for their payment, or the payment of part of the cost thereof, out of the provincial or municipal treasuries as may seem proper to the Civil Governor. The Chief of Philippines Constabulary shall deliver the necessary arms and ammunition to each municipality upon order of the provincial governor approved by the Civil Governor, and the municipal president shall receipt for the arms to the Chief of Philippine Constabulary. The provincial governor shall have the authority, and it shall be his duty, to exact and accept a sufficient bond, the amount of which shall be fixed by the Civil Governor, in each case, from the president and councilors of each town to which such arms and ammunition may be distributed, conditioned that the same shall be delivered upon order of the provincial or the Civil Governor to the Insular Government and shall not be lost or taken from the municipal police authorized to use them and into whose custody they shall be delivered. The Civil Governor and the governor of the province shall each have the power to disarm the municipal police of any pueblo of the province, and it shall be the duty of the provincial governor to do so whenever he thinks that there is danger that the arms will be lost or captured by ladrones. The disarming shall be effected through the Constabulary, the inspectors of which on duty in the province shall comply with the orders of either the Civil Governor or the provincial governor, as the case may be."
Section 2. Section nine of said Act shall be amended by adding the following: "Whenever an inspector of Constabulary on duty in one province shall, in the pursuit of criminals, enter the borders of an adjacent province he shall as soon as possible, and before entering if practicable, notify the governor of the province entered and the inspector of Constabulary therein and, unless he has good reason for not doing so, he shall also notify the president of the town whose territory he thus enters of his presence and of the purpose of his coming."
Section 3. Section thirteen of said Act is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor:
"Section 13. In the event that any provincial inspector in charge shall find that the officers or men of any municipal police force are inefficient, dishonest, disloyal to the United States, or guilty of any violation of law or duty, he shall at once report the same to the governor of the province, who shall have power, and it shall be his duty, to suspend the accused official, and, after due hearing, if he finds the official accused to be guilty of the offense or neglect of duty charged, he shall dismiss him, and the vacancy thus occasioned shall be filled as provided by the provisions of the Municipal Code."
Section 4. Said Act is hereby further amended by adding the following sections:
"Section 23. It shall be the duty of the inspectors, sergeants, and corporals, and enlisted men of the Constabulary stationed in any province to cooperate in every way possible with the governor in the maintenance of law and order and the suppression of ladronism, lawless violence, and crime. The governor is the chief executive officer of the province, and it shall be the duty of the inspectors to keep him confidentially advised, as far as practicable and convenient, in advance of contemplated movements of the Constabulary and of proposed expeditions, arrests, and other acts by them which shall affect the public weal; and in cases where such confidential advice in advance is no convenient or practicable it shall be the duty of the commanding officer of the Constabulary to advise him as soon as possible after the event of what has taken place. Any disrespect or discourtesy offered by an officer or enlisted man of the Constabulary toward the governor of the province shall be cause for instant dismissal from the corps.
"Section 24. The Civil Governor, the Chief of Philippines Constabulary, the governors of provinces, with the consent and approval of the Civil Governor, and the inspectors of Constabulary, with the consent and approval of the Chief of Philippines Constabulary, may authorize in writhing any resident of the province to purchase or receive a gun or a revolver, or both, when satisfied that the person so purchasing, receiving, and having custody of the gun or revolver will only use it for lawful purposes and needs it for his reasonable only.1aшphi1 A list of the licenses issued hereunder shall be kept by the officer issuing them, and notice of the issue of each license shall be given by the issuing officer to the Chief of Philippines Constabulary. The Chief of Philippines Constabulary shall keep a record of all persons to whom written authority to keep an arm or arms has been issued. The Civil Governor may by executive order issue regulations as to the form of written authority to be issued and provide for the exaction of a bond upon terms to be fixed by him which shall be conditioned for the safe-keeping of the weapon authorized to be purchased or held. Any person not connected with the Army or Navy of the United States or otherwise authorized by law having in his custody a gun, a revolver, or other firearms, or ammunition for the same, who shall not have the license under this section provided, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars and imprisonment not exceeding one year and one day."
Section 5. In any province in which, in the opinion of the Civil Governor, the provincial jail is not safely guarded, he shall have authority by executive order to direct that the senior inspector of Constabulary in that province shall take custody of the jail under the supervision of the provincial governor and guard the prisoners therein, using for this purpose members of the Philippines Constabulary as jail guards. In such case the expense of the subsistence of prisoners, the repair and construction of the jail and the maintenance of the jail, other than the payment and subsistence of the Constabulary guard, shall be met as now provided by law.
The provisions of Act Numbered Four hundred and thirteen, as amended by Act Numbered Four hundred and forty-nine, shall continue in force, except so far as the same are inconsistent with the provisions of this section.
Section 6. The Philippines Constabulary shall not be charged with the duty of enforcing the ordinances of any municipality, and shall not make arrests for violations of the same, unless the Civil Governor or the provincial governor shall request the senior inspector of the province to direct his subordinates to enforce the ordinances of any municipality or municipalities of the province, and the request may refer to the enforcement of all ordinances or to the enforcement of any particular ordinance.
Section 7. 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 8. This act shall take effect on its passage.
Enacted, February 2, 1903.
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