[ Act No. 2727, December 20, 1917 ]
AN ACT APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR THE NECESSARY EXPENSES OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS DURING THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING DECEMBER THIRTY-FIRST, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Legislature assembled and by the authority of the same:
Section 1. The following sums, or so much thereof as may be respectively necessary, are hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, in compensation of the service of the Philippine Government for the fiscal year ending December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and eighteen, unless otherwise stated.
(See Table of ACTS No. 2727 in PUBLIC LAWS PHILIPPINE LEGISLATURE VOLUME 13 Page 39 to Page 171)
Section 2. There is hereby created an Emergency Board which shall consist of the chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate, the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of Justice, the Insular Auditor, and the Secretary of Finance, with the latter as chairman. In the absence of the chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate or the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, the Senator or Representative designated by the President of the respective House shall act in his stead. The Chairman of the Emergency Board, with the approval of said Board, shall designate a Government employee to act as secretary of the Board, without additional compensation.
Whenever application is made by any officer of the Government in charge of any work of construction or repair, or by the Director of any Bureau or Office of the Government, certifying that the needs of the work, Bureau, or Office concerned required the expenditure of a sum of money greater than the amount appropriated by the Legislature for such purpose, and if said application is recommended by the proper Department head, the Emergency Board shall investigate the facts set forth in such application, ascertain whether the applicant has taken the necessary measures to prevent the expenditure of a sum of money greater than that authorized by this Act, hear the evidence presented, and submit a report with its recommendations to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives who, upon recommendation of a majority of the Emergency Board aforesaid, may authorize, with the concurrence of the Governor-General, the expenditure of additional funds not specifically appropriated, in such amount as may be deemed necessary for the purposes of the work, Bureau or Office concerned: Provided, That no funds shall be set up on the books of the Auditor under this section until the same shall have been allotted by the presiding officers of both Houses, with the concurrence of the Governor-General.ℒαwρhi৷
This Emergency Board shall enter upon the discharge of its functions immediately after the close of the session of the Philippine Legislature in which this Act was approved and shall exist until October sixteenth, nineteen hundred and eighteen.
The Secretary of Finance, within the thirty days following the beginning of the next regular session of the Philippine Legislature, shall send to each House thereof a statement of the sum or sums and expenditures authorized under the provisions of this section.
Section 3. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in any position not mentioned in Act Numbered Twenty-six hundred and sixty-eight, for which a salary of three thousand pesos per annum or more has been appropriated in this Act, such position shall be filled at a salary not to exceed three thousand pesos per annum, unless the Department Secretaries, acting jointly, and after due investigation of the actual needs of the service, shall determine otherwise; but such salary shall in no case be greater than that authorized by this Act.
Section 4. Whenever the Secretary of Finance shall be of the opinion that there is good reason for believing that the probable revenues of the Insular Government will not be sufficient to cover the expenditures provided for in this Act, he shall report the fact to the Governor-General, who may direct the Emergency Board to consider the condition of funds existing in the Insular Treasury, the expenditures already made and to be made, and the probable revenues until the end of the fiscal year for which this Act has been passed, and to propose adequate measures to reduce the expenditures in order that they may be met out of the funds in the Insular Treasury and the probable revenues for the rest of the year. The Board shall report to the Secretary of Finance the result of its deliberations as soon as possible and make such recommendations as it may deem wise. In accordance with the report of the Board, the Secretary of Finance may propose the temporary or definitive suspension to the end of the fiscal year for which this law has been enacted, of the payment of the expenses of any Bureau or Office, to an amount not to exceed thirty per centum of the sum appropriated for such Bureau or Office, and such proposition shall have the effect of law as soon as it shall have been approved by the presiding officers of both Houses and concurred in by the Governor-General.
Section 5. Unless otherwise authorized by this Act, all sums appropriated by this Act for the various Bureaus, Offices, and provinces shall be expended solely for the specific purposes for which appropriated, and for no other, and no amount appropriated for salaries and wages shall be available for the payment of miscellaneous expenses nor shall any amount appropriated for miscellaneous expenses be available for the payment of salaries and wages: Provided, That in any Bureau or Office, subject to approval by the Governor-General or the proper Department Secretary, any unexpended balance under any item of miscellaneous expense, not exceeding a total of ten per centum of the amount appropriated for such miscellaneous expense, may be used to increase the amount under any other heading of miscellaneous expense in said Bureau or Office: And provided, further, That the appropriations herein made for each Bureau. Office, or province shall be available for payment of such expenses as may accrue to said Bureaus, Offices, or provinces by reason of the operation of sections two hundred and fifty-seven, three hundred and five, three hundred and six, and three hundred and eight of the Revised Administrative Code and the part thereof entitled the Public Bonding Law and Civil Service Law.
Section 6. Unless otherwise provided by this Act, all income accruing to Bureaus and Offices by virtue of the provisions of existing law shall be deposited with the general unappropriated funds of the Insular Government.
Section 7. The net surplus of all appropriations herein made shall revert to the general funds as of December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and eighteen, and shall not thereafter be available for expenditure except by subsequent legislative enactment.
Section 8. Hereafter no allowance shall be paid to any employee for the maintenance of means of transportation owned by him but used on official business, in excess of twenty pesos per month in the case of a horse, or forty pesos per month in the case of motorcycles, or fifty pesos per month in the case of automobiles or motor launches.
Section 9. No sum appropriated for contingent expenses and equipment shall be available for the purchase of automobiles unless expressly authorized in this Act.
Section 10. This Act shall take effect on January first, nineteen hundred and eighteen.
Approved, December 20, 1917.
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