Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Sections one hundred ninety-two, one hundred ninety-two (b), and two hundred one of the Administrative Code, as amended, are hereby further amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 192. Office of register of deeds.—There shall be one register of deeds for each city and one for each province, except in the Mountain Province, where there shall be two: one for the Subprovince of Benguet, and another for the rest of the province: Provided, however, That the register of deeds of the City of Baguio shall be ex-officio register of deeds for the Subprovince of Benguet, and that the register of deeds of a province whose capital is a chartered city shall likewise be ex-officio register of deeds for said city.

"SEC. 192. (b). Salaries of registers of deeds.—The salary of the register of deeds of the City of Manila shall be five thousand four hundred pesos per annum; that of the registers of deeds of the Provinces of Cebu, Iloilo, Negros occidental, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, and Rizal, three Thousand six hundred pesos per annum; that of the registers of deeds of the Provinces of Bulacan, Laguna, Pampanga, Quezon, and Tarlac, three thousand pesos per annum; that of the registers of deeds of the Provinces of Albay, Bataan, Batangas, Camarines Sur, Capiz, Cavite, Cotabato, Davao, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Isabela, La Union, Leyte, Negros Oriental, Nueva Vizcaya, and Zamboanga, the City of Baguio, and Quezon City, twenty-four hundred pesos per annum; that of the registers of deeds of other cities and provinces, eighteen hundred pesos per annum.

"From time to time but not oftener than once every five years after the approval of this Act, the rates of salary of the registers of deeds, except in the City of Manila, shall be revised and fixed in accordance with the following schedule: (a) four thousand pesos per annum for the registers of deeds whose yearly average collections during the last three years immediately preceding the year of the revision have been fifty thousand pesos or more; (b) three thousand six hundred pesos per annum for those whose yearly average collections during the same period have been thirty thousand pesos or more but less than fifty thousand pesos; (c) three thousand pesos per annum for those whose yearly average collections during the same period have been fifteen thousand pesos or more but less than thirty thousand pesos; (d) twenty-four hundred pesos per annum for those whose yearly average collections during the same period have been five thousand pesos or more but less than fifteen thousand pesos; (e) eighteen hundred pesos per annum for those whose yearly average collections during the same period have been less than five thousand pesos; Provided, however, That the salary of the register of deeds of the City of Baguio shall be fixed on the basis of the consolidated, yearly average collections of the registries of the City of Baguio and the Subprovince of Benguet, and that the salary of the register of deeds of a province who is ex-officio register of deeds of the city which is the capital of said province, shall likewise be fixed on the basis of the consolidated yearly average collections of the registries of said province and city.

"SEC. 201. Discharge of duties of register of deeds in case of vacancy, etc.—Until a regular register of deeds shall have been appointed for a city or province, or in of vacancy in the office, or upon the occasion of the absence, illness, or inability of the register of deeds to discharge his duties, said duties shall be performed by the following officials, without additional compensation in the order in which they are mentioned below, unless the Secretary of Justice designate another official to act temporarily in the place:

"(a) For the city or province where there has been appointed a deputy register of deeds, by the said deputy register of deeds.
"(b) For the City of Baguio, by the city attorney, assistant city attorney, city treasurer or assistant city treasurer of Baguio.
"(c) For cities which are not capitals of province, by the city attorney, assistant city attorney, city treasurer or assistant city treasurer.
"(d) For provinces in general, by the provincial fiscal, assistant provincial fiscal, provincial treasurer, or assistant provincial treasurer."

SEC. 2. This Act shall take effect on July first, nineteen hundred and forty-seven.

Approved, June 20, 1947.