[ COMMONWEALTH ACT No. 628, June 10, 1941 ]
AN ACT CREATING A CODE COMMITTEE
Be it enacted by the National Assembly of the Philippines:
SECTION 1. There is created a Code Committee which shall be composed of a chairman and not more than ten members to be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments. The Code Committee shall be under the executive control and supervision of the President of the Philippines.
SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the said Committee to revise all the existing substantive laws of the Philippines, and to modify the same in conformity with the customs, traditions, and idiosyncracies of the Filipino people and with the progressive principles of the science of law. The Committee shall complete its work not later than two years from the date of the approval of this Act, and shall submit to the President of the Philippines a report of the work undertaken by it together with the corresponding-drafts of the different codes for submission to the Congress of the Philippines.
SEC. 3. The chairman and members of the Committee shall receive such compensation as may be fixed by the President of the Philippines, but if they are at the same time government officials receiving regular salaries, they shall serve without additional compensation. The chairman may, subject to the approval of the President of the Philippines and the provisions of the Civil Service Law and Commonwealth Act Numbered Four hundred and two, appoint such assistants and other subordinate employees as may be necessary.
SEC. 4. The Committee is empowered to call on any official or employee of any bureau, office, branch, subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of the Government to assist or otherwise extend his cooperation to the Committee in connection with the performance of its functions to carry out the provisions of this Act.
SEC. 5. Upon the completion of its work and the submission of its report, the Committee shall cease to exist and the services of the chairman and the members of the same and of all the employees working under it shall terminate. All the records and documents and proceedings of the Committee shall be delivered to the National Library for preservation or disposition by the latter office according to law. The other properties of the Committee shall be disposed of in accordance with Accounting Law and regulations. The unexpended balances of its appropriations shall revert to the unappropriated genera] fund in the Philippine Treasury.
SEC. 6. To carry out the purpose of this Act, there is appropriated out of any funds in the Philippine Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of fifty-three thousand seven hundred sixty pesos for the necessary expenses of the Code Committee for the fiscal year from July first, nineteen hundred and forty-one to June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and forty-two. Thereafter, the necessary amounts to carry out the purposes of this Act shall be provided in the annual general appropriation act.
SEC. 7. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
APPROVED, June 10, 1941.
SECTION 1. There is created a Code Committee which shall be composed of a chairman and not more than ten members to be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments. The Code Committee shall be under the executive control and supervision of the President of the Philippines.
SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the said Committee to revise all the existing substantive laws of the Philippines, and to modify the same in conformity with the customs, traditions, and idiosyncracies of the Filipino people and with the progressive principles of the science of law. The Committee shall complete its work not later than two years from the date of the approval of this Act, and shall submit to the President of the Philippines a report of the work undertaken by it together with the corresponding-drafts of the different codes for submission to the Congress of the Philippines.
SEC. 3. The chairman and members of the Committee shall receive such compensation as may be fixed by the President of the Philippines, but if they are at the same time government officials receiving regular salaries, they shall serve without additional compensation. The chairman may, subject to the approval of the President of the Philippines and the provisions of the Civil Service Law and Commonwealth Act Numbered Four hundred and two, appoint such assistants and other subordinate employees as may be necessary.
SEC. 4. The Committee is empowered to call on any official or employee of any bureau, office, branch, subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of the Government to assist or otherwise extend his cooperation to the Committee in connection with the performance of its functions to carry out the provisions of this Act.
SEC. 5. Upon the completion of its work and the submission of its report, the Committee shall cease to exist and the services of the chairman and the members of the same and of all the employees working under it shall terminate. All the records and documents and proceedings of the Committee shall be delivered to the National Library for preservation or disposition by the latter office according to law. The other properties of the Committee shall be disposed of in accordance with Accounting Law and regulations. The unexpended balances of its appropriations shall revert to the unappropriated genera] fund in the Philippine Treasury.
SEC. 6. To carry out the purpose of this Act, there is appropriated out of any funds in the Philippine Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of fifty-three thousand seven hundred sixty pesos for the necessary expenses of the Code Committee for the fiscal year from July first, nineteen hundred and forty-one to June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and forty-two. Thereafter, the necessary amounts to carry out the purposes of this Act shall be provided in the annual general appropriation act.
SEC. 7. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
APPROVED, June 10, 1941.