[ Act No. 3278, November 30, 1926 ]

AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE PROVINCE OF ILOCOS SUR AND THE MUNICIPALITY OF VIGAN, IN SAID PROVINCE, TO ISSUE BONDS FOR THE PURPOSE OF RAISING FUNDS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF PERMANENT IMPROVEMENTS, AND AUTHORIZING ALSO AN INSULAR GOVERNMENT BOND ISSUE SECURED BY SAID PROVINCIAL AND MUNICIPAL BONDS, 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. Pursuant to the provisions of section eleven of the Act  of  Congress approved  August twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, entitled "An Act to declare the purpose  of the people  of the  United States  as to the future political status of the people of  the  Philippine Islands, and to provide a more  autonomous government for those Islands," as amended by the Act of Congress approved May thirty-first, nineteen hundred and  twenty-two, the Province  of Ilocos Sur and the municipality of Vigan are hereby authorized to negotiate a  loan to  be  used for the construction of permanent improvements, in the sum hereinafter set  forth:

Province of  Ilocos Sur, for the reconstruction of the provincial capitol of  Vigan and a  provincial high-school building in the  same city, two hundred and sixty thousand pesos; municipality  of  Vigan, for  sewers  for  said  city, ninety thousand pesos, making a total of three hundred and fifty thousand pesos.

And the Governor-General of the Philippine Islands is hereby authorized to  issue, in the name and behalf of the aforesaid  province  and  municipality  of  Ilocos Sur,  the necessary  bonds for  said loan.  The bonds so authorized shall  be  issued and shall bear  such date and  such annual interest as the  Governor-General shall determine, said interest to be payable quarterly or semiannually in gold coin of the United States or its equivalent, in the discretion of the Insular Treasurer, and shall be due and  payable thirty years after date of issue, in gold coin of the United States or its equivalent, in the discretion of the Insular Treasurer Said  bonds  shall be  coupon bonds  or registered bonds, convertible into either form  and shall be issued in convenient  denominations, and the  registered bonds  shall be registered and transferable in  the  office  of  the Insular Treasurer in Manila, where the principal and interest snails be payable: Provided, That upon  the transfer of said bonds ' to the Insular Government, as provided in section two of this Act, the same shall have the same date, bear interest at the same rate, and fall due  at the same time, as the bonds of the Insular  Government issued by virtue of section four of this Act.

SEC. 2.  The  Governor-General is further authorized to sell said bonds upon such terms  and conditions as may be most  favorable  to  the Province of  Ilocos Sur  and the municipality of Vigan, or to assign and transfer said bonds to the Government of the Philippine Islands for  a consideration, charging the same to the net proceeds of the sale of the bonds of the Government of the Philippine Islands issued in an equivalent amount, as provided in section four of this  Act, and to  deposit the proceeds  of  said sale or assignment with an  authorized  depository of  the Government  of the Philippine Islands.  The proceeds of the sale or assignment to the Insular Government of said  bonds shall  be applied by  the Insular  Treasurer  to the payment of the outstanding indebtedness  of the Province of Ilocos Sur and the municipality of Vigan with the Insular Government, and  the balance shall  be credited to the "Public Works Bond Issue Fund  of the Province of Ilocos Sur and the municipality of  Vigan," and be withdrawn only for the purposes set forth in this Act.

SEC. 3.  Beginning with the fiscal year in which the bonds are issued, and each year thereafter until such bonds shall have been redeemed in their entirety, a standing annual appropriation  is hereby authorized, out of any funds  in the Insular Treasury not otherwise  appropriated,  of  such sum as may be necessary to pay the annual  interest accrued on the  provincial and municipal bonds issued under this Act and to provide  for a  sinking fund for the payment of said bonds.  The sinking fund hereby created shall  be adjusted annually in  such a manner that the total amount thereof at each annual  due  date  of the  bond issue shall be equal  to the total of  an  annuity of  one hundred and ninety-three pesos and seventy-one  centavos for  each ten thousand pesos of bonds outstanding, accrued at the rate of interest of three and one-half per centum per annum.   Said fund  shall be under  the  custody of the Treasurer  of the Philippine Islands, who shall invest the same, in such manner as the Secretary of Finance may approve, in accordance with  the provisions of the Act governing the investment of sinking funds, and shall charge all the expenses of such investment  to said sinking fund.

SEC.  4. The Secretary of War  is  hereby authorized to issue in the name and behalf of the Government of the Philippine Islands,  bonds to  the amount  of one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, United  States currency, for a term of thirty years, secured  by the bonds  of  the Province of Ilocos  Sur and the municipality  of Vigan herein authorized  and assigned  and transferred to  the Insular Government as provided in section two.  The  Secretary of War shall determine the form of the bonds and the rate and dates of payment of the interest thereon.  The bonds may be coupon bonds  or registered bonds,  convertible, in the discretion of  the  Secretary of War, into  either form, and,  if registered  bonds, shall  be registered in the Treasury of the United States, where  the principal and  interest shall be payable in gold coin of the United States.

The Secretary of War is further authorized to sell said Insular bonds  upon  such  terms and  conditions  as  in his judgment  are  most  favorable  to the  Government of the Philippine  Islands,  and he  shall deposit the  proceeds of the sale thereof  with an  authorized depository or depositories of the Government  of the Philippine Islands  in the United States, to the credit of the Treasurer of the Philippine Islands.

SEC. 5. The sinking fund provided  for in section  three of this Act  shall constitute  the sinking fund  for the payment  of the Insular bonds  issued under the  provisions hereof.

SEC. 6.  The Insular, provincial, and municipal bonds hereby authorized  to be  issued shall be exempt from taxation by the Government of the United  States, by  the Government of the Philippine  Islands or any political  or  municipal subdivision  thereof,  or by any State  or territory of the United States, or  by  any county,  municipality, or  other municipal   subdivision  of  any State   or  territory of the United States, or by the District of Columbia, which fact shall be stated upon their  face by virtue  of section one of the Act  of Congress approved February sixth, nineteen hundred and five,  according to which Act, as well  as  in accordance with  the Act of Congress  approved on August twenty-ninth, nineteen  hundred and sixteen,  as  amended, and in accordance with this Act, the said  bonds are issued.

SEC. 7. An appropriation is hereby made out of the proceeds  of the sale  of the  Insular bonds  authorized to be issued by this  Act, for the payment of the bonds issued by the Province of Ilocos Sur and the municipality of Vigan assigned and transferred  as security for  the aforesaid Insular Government bonds.

SEC. 8. An  appropriation  is hereby made  out of the general funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, of a sufficient sum to cover the expense of the issue and sale of the  Insular,  provincial, and  municipal bonds authorized by this Act, and for the  payment of the interest on said Insular  bonds  and the expense  of investing the sinking  fund.   The  Insular Government shall  be  reimbursed by  the  Province of Ilocos Sur  and the  municipality of Vigan for said expense and for  the sums disbursed for the formation, maintenance and investment of the sinking fund provided  for in section three of this Act, within thirty days  after  payment of said expenses  and sinking fund by the Insular Government.   The  reimbursement  shall be made  in proportion to the indebtedness  contracted by the Province of Ilocos  Sur and the municipality of Vigan.  In case the provincial board  of Ilocos  Sur and the  municipal council of Vigan shall fail to make such  reimbursement, the Collector of Internal Revenue and the provincial treasurer of Ilocos Sur are hereby authorized  and directed to withhold from the revenues of said province and the municipality herein  mentioned that may come into their possession an amount sufficient to make said reimbursement or any other reimbursement above provided and  shall deposit said sum with the Treasurer of the  Philippine Islands, to the credit of the general funds of the Insular  Government.

SEC. 9. The Director of  Public Works of the Philippine Islands shall have charge and exclusive control of all work to be done and improvements to be made under the provisions of  this Act,  which work shall be begun as soon as the Insular Treasurer shall certify that the funds  herein provided for are available.

SEC. 10. This Act shall take effect on its approval.

Approved,  November 30, 1926.