[ Acts No. 1854, June 13, 1908 ]
AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE APPROPRIATION, OF SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS ANNUALLY FOR THE PROMOTION, ESTABLISHMENT, AND MAINTENANCE OF IRRIGATION SYSTEMS IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.
By authority of the United Stall's, be it enacted by the Philippine Legislature, that:
Section 1. Beginning with the fiscal year nineteen hundred and ten a continuing annual appropriation of seven hundred and fifty thousand pesos is hereby authorized to be paid from money in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated to constitute a special permanent fund to be spent in accordance with this law for the investigation. study, construction, maintenance, and development of irrigation systems in the Philippine Islands, and for the repair of those systems which are already in existence. All sums appropriated for this purpose in previous years and which have not been spent shall accrue to this special fund and shall be expended in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
Section 2. The purposes of this Act there is hereby created in Bureau of Public Works a division of irrigation, at whose head shall be be a general superintendent of irrigation who shall be an experienced hydraulic engineer and shall be appointed by the Governor-General, with the advice and consent of the Philippine Commission. The duties of the general superintendent of irrigation shall be to have supervision and direction of the general investigation and construction of irrigation systems throughout the Philippine Islands. He shall receive an annual salary of eight thousand pesos and bis actual and necessary traveling expenses when absent from his office in the performance of his official duties.
Section 3. The general superintendent of irrigation when duly appointed and qualified as provided in the next preceding section, shall make a study of a plan adequate for the establishment of an economical and complete system of irrigation for all the Philippine Islands and shall submit a report of such plan for the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Police.
Section 4. When the Secretary of Commerce and Police shall approve this plan he may order that the works be begun at once and the general superintendent of irrigation shall thereupon take the necessary steps for the execution of the said irrigation system in those provinces and places where irrigation is most needed.
Section 5. Upon receipt of a request from any provincial board, requests tor municipality, barrio, or from any group of inhabitants in the locality interested in obtaining a portion of the funds authorized by this Act, together with a promise on their part to pay an equitable rate to the Government of the Philippine Islands for the use of the water in such quantities as to reimburse the Government for the cost of the irrigation works within a given number of years, which shall not exceed twenty, the Secretary of Commerce and Police, if he is satisfied with the conditions contained in the Plans and specification request, shall instruct the general superintendent of irrigation to prepare the plans and specifications for the irrigation system requested and the probable cost of such system, within the period of ninety days; and, if these estimates and specifications are satisfactory, the construction of the said system will at once be started under the direction of the general superintendent of irrigation or of one of his agents, who, when the work is finished will certify the same to the Secretary of Commerce and Police.
Section 6. Upon receipt of the certificate of the general superintendent of irrigation that the work is finished and that the irrigation system constructed is in working order, the Secretary of Commerce and Police shall so notify the Director of Lands, who shall take charge of the said irrigation system and administer it for the benefit of the landowners under the regulations and provisions which may be approved by the said Director, with the approval of the Governor-General. Said regulations shall fix the charge for water, which shall be estimated on the quantity of water consumed each season; the value of said water being distributed among all persons concerned in proportion to the water consumed by each.1aшphi1 Any amount or amounts unpaid shall constitute a lien on the property of the persons who have used irrigation and shall be collected in the same manner as the law provides for the collection of Government taxes. Complaints arising among consumers of water in one district or determined locality, shall be settled by the Director of Lands, and the decisions of said Director shall be appealable to the Governor-General.
Section 9. Whenever the Government has been reimbursed for the total cost of any irrigation system constructed from the general fund authorized by this Act, it, shall reduce the charges for water in said system to an amount which in the opinion of "the administrator of the irrigation system shall be sufficient for the proper maintenance of said work and to meet extraordinary expenditures on account of unforeseen accidents.
Section 8. This Act shall take effect on its passage.
Enacted, June 13, 1908.
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