[ Act No. 337, January 28, 1902 ]
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF A PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT IN THE PROVINCE OF NUEVA VISCAYA.
By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that:
SECTION 1. A civil provincial government is hereby established for the Province of Nueva Vizcaya.
SEC. 2. The officers of this government shall be—
(a) A provincial governor, at a salary of two thousand four Governor hundred dollars per year;
(b) A provincial secretary-treasurer, at a salary of one thousand secretary-treasurer two hundred dollars per year;
(c) A provincial supervisor, at a salary of one thousand two hundred dollars per year;
(d) A provincial fiscal, who shall be the provincial fiscal of the Province of Isabela, and who shall receive an annual compensation of four hundred dollars for his services as provincial fiscal of Nueva Vizcaya.
All in money of the United States.
(e) No person shall be eligible for any of these offices who is not either a citizen of the United States, a native of the Philippine Islands, or a person who, not being a subject or citizen of any other power or government, may have under or by virtue of the treaty of Paris acquired the political rights of a native of the Islands, or who, having taken the oath of allegiance to the United States, shall violate the same. Nonresidence in the province shall not render the person elected or appointed to the office ineligible.
SEC. 3. These officers shall be appointed by the Civil Governor, with the advice and consent of the United States Philippine Commission, and shall hold office during his pleasure. They shall reside and have their offices in the municipality of Bayombong, which shall be the capital of the province.
SEC. 4. After March first, nineteen hundred and three, the provincial secretary-treasurer and the provincial supervisor shall be selected under the provisions and restrictions of the Civil Service Act. The provincial secretary-treasurer shall be able to speak and write the Spanish language, and. after January first, nineteen hundred and six, the English language also. The provincial supervisor shall be a competent civil engineer and surveyor. Before the secretary-treasurer shall qualify he shall give a bond to the Insular Government for the benefit of whom it may concern, with sufficient surety, in the sum of five thousand dollars; the surety, or sureties, shall be approved by the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago. The bond shall be conditioned to secure the faithful performance of the duties of the office as now or hereafter prescribed by law, and for the accounting for all funds coming into his hands as secretary-treasurer, or into those of his authorized deputies, during his incumbency, and in case of death or removal, until the statement of his accounts by the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago. His bond shall, after its approval, be filed with the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago, who shall record the same in a book to be supervision, kept for the purpose and shall safely keep the same. The Treasurer for the Philippine. Archipelago shall exercise the same supervision over his office that he exercises over the offices of provincial treasurers in the provinces organized under the Provincial Government Act.
SEC. 5. Before assuming office each provincial officer shall take and subscribe to the following oath or affirmation:
SEC. 6. The provincial governor shall be the chief executive officer of the province. He shall report to the Civil Governor; he shall see that the laws are faithfully executed by all the officers in the province; he shall receive the judge of First Instance when he enters the province to hold the terms of court therein, and shall provide for his protection and entertainment, charging the reasonable expenses thereof to the provincial treasury, which shall not exceed three dollars per day. The governor shall attend the Court of First Instance when in session, by himself or a deputy, as the chief executive officer of the court and province, and shall execute such processes as he shall be required to execute by law, subject to other provisions of law. He shall have control of the local constabulary or police of the various townships or settlements of the province; and may, when the public interests require, temporarily withdraw from the township or settlement in which such police of constabulary are organized a part thereof for use in other townships or settlements of the province. Upon the filing of charges, or upon receiving authentic information of maladministration by any officer of a township or settlement of the province he may suspend such officer and shall immediately forward to the Civil Governor a statement of the grounds for such suspension, together with the evidence upon which he has acted, giving notice of his action to the suspended official; the Civil Governor shall, after hearing and investigation, either remove the suspended officer or reinstate him. The provincial governor shall preside at all meetings of the provincial hoard hereinafter constituted. He shall, at least once in every six months, visit every township or settlement in the province. While in the township or settlement he shall hear all complaints made against the conduct of any of its executive officers and take suitable action thereon, either by dismissing the complaints or by suspending the official and transmitting the charges to the Civil Governor, or by directing the provincial fiscal to bring a criminal or civil suit in the public interest against the person complained of, if the charge made involves either civil or criminal liability.
Whenever any township or settlement official shall be suspended by the governor of the province in accordance with the provisions of this Act, it shall he the duty of the provincial governor at once to file written charges with the provincial board setting forth the nature of the complaints made against, the suspended official, and thereupon the board shall immediately furnish a copy of said charges to the accused official, with a notification of the time and place of hearing upon said charges, and at the time and place appointed the board shall proceed to hear and investigate the truth or falsity of said charges, giving the suspended official full opportunity to be beard. The hearing shall occur as soon as may be practicable after the charges are filed. Upon the completion of the hearing the board shall immediately forward, in writing, its findings as to the truth or falsity of the charges, together with the charges and evidence taken by the board, and its recommendation as to whether the official ought or ought not to be dismissed, to the Civil Governor, and the Civil Governor shall thereupon, upon the receipt of said findings, charges, and evidence, order the suspended official to be reinstated or dismissed as the facts shall warrant. In case the Vacancies Civil Governor shall order the official to be dismissed, the vacancy shall he filled in the manner required by an Act providing for the establishment of local civil governments in the townships and settlements of Nueva Vizcaya.
Between the first and fifteenth of January of each year he shall make a report of the condition of the province for the year ending on the previous thirty-first of December to the Civil Governor, recommending therein such measures, executive or legislative, as to him may seem best for the betterment of the conditions in the province. Whenever lawless violence or seditious conspiracy and disturbance of the public peace shall occur of so formidable a character as to be beyond the power of the local police of the province to suppress, it shall be the duty of the governor to call upon the Civil Governor or the military officer commanding the district in which custody of prisoners, the province has to send troops to suppress the disturbance. The governor shall, through a jailer and guards to be appointed by him, have custody of all prisoners held awaiting trial or duly sentenced to the provincial jail. He shall employ such deputies and assistants in discharging his duties as he may deem necessary, subject to the approval of the provincial board; their salaries shall be fixed by the governor, with like approval. The number and duties of such employees shall be reported by the governor to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago at the close of each month, who shall have power to abolish such subordinate offices or reduce salaries so as to secure economy and uniformity of expenditure in provinces of substantially the same population and resources, and no increase shall be made in the number of employees or the amount of the salaries after having been once reduced by the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago before bis approval of the proposed increase shall have been obtained: Provided, That after March first, nineteen hundred and three, such employees shall be selected in accordance with the rules and restrictions of the Civil Service Act. The salaries shall be paid out of the provincial treasury. He shall make known to the people of his province, by proclamation or communications delivered to the presidents of the several townships or settlements, all general laws or governmental orders which concern them. He shall pass upon every ordinance or act of the several township councils of the province, approving it should be deem it satisfactory; should he deem it unsatisfactory, he shall return it to the council, suggesting suitable amendments; the council shall inform him of its action, and he shall then approve tin modify it, as he may deem necessary township fail to fix the limits of the salaries of duly authorized appropriations for lawful and to regulate the sanitation of the ordinance or act as amended, or should the council of any the barrios of the township; to fix officers and employees; to make appropriations for lawful and necessary township expenditures; to regulate the sanitation of the township, and order the removal of nuisances and causes of disease; to regulate the running at large of domestic animals; to adopt suitable measures to prevent the spread of disease; to prohibit gambling, cock fighting, opium smoking, or the sale of opium for smoking; to provide and enforce regulations for the taxation of the retail sale, in quantities of less than five gallons, of any intoxicating, fermented, malt, or vinous liquors, except the native beverage made from rice and known as "tapuy;" to impose such other license fees as may be required by general law; to provide for the care of the poor, the sick, or of orphans; to provide for the establishment and maintenance of schools for primary instruction; to provide for the construction and maintenance of necessary water works for supplying the inhabitants of the township with water, and for insuring the equitable distribution and use of water for the purpose of irrigation in the township; or, in general, to provide for carrying into effect and discharging the powers and duties conferred on them by an Act providing for the establishment of local civil governments in the townships and settlements of Public health and the Province of Nueva Vizcaya; or should it fail to enact such measures as are necessary and proper to provide for the health and safety, promote the prosperity, improve the morals, good order, peace, comfort, and convenience of the township and the inhabitants thereof and for the protection of the property therein:
Then the governor shall issue to the president of such township suitable written orders for securing these ends, and these orders shall have the effect of law. But the constant aim of the governor shall be to aid the people of the several townships of the province to acquire the knowledge and experience necessary for successful local popular government, and his supervision and control shall be confined within the narrowest limits consistent with the requirement that the powers of government in the township shall be honestly and effectively exercised, and that law and order and individual freedom shall be maintained.
The governor shall fix the dates for the first township or settlement elections in the several townships and settlements, and the day or days during each month from January fifteenth to June thirtieth of each year on which the people of the several townships or settlements may appear before the presidents to pay their taxes: Provided, That the last day so fixed shall be the thirtieth of June of each year. He shall be authorized to carry, as a badge of his office, a walking stick of white Indian cane, with gold head and gold cord.
SEC. 7. The provincial secretary-treasurer shall attest all the official acts of the provincial governor under the seal of the province, and shall record all of such acts as are required by law to be recorded. He shall be the custodian of the provincial seal. He shall receive from the provincial governor and file in his office all reports to the provincial governor required by law, and shall index the same, and he shall generally act as custodian of all provincial records and documents. He shall, on demand, furnish certified copies of all public records and documents, for which he may charge as personal compensation, in addition to his regular salary, the amount of ten cents (Mexican) per one hundred words, including the certificate. In case of a vacancy in the office of governor, or vice-governor. the absence of the governor from the province, the secretary-treasurer shall discharge the duties of the governor during such vacancy or absence or until the vacancy shall be filled as hereinafter provided.
The secretary-treasurer shall be the chief financial officer of the province. He shall, in person or by authorized deputy, supervise the appraisement and assessment of real property in all the townships or settlements of the province in the manner provided in an Act providing for the establishment of local civil governments in the townships and settlements of the Province of Nueva Vizcaya, except where otherwise specially provided. He shall, by himself or deputy, collect all taxes imposed upon property or persons in the province either by the townships or settlements of the province, the provincial government, or the Central Government of the Islands. It shall be his duty to procure a certified copy of the tax-assessment certified copy of the tax-assessment list from each township or settlement of the province, and file the same in his office, and to make an alphabetical index thereof, which list, and alphabetical index shall be a public record. He shall have deputies power to employ such deputies and assistants in discharging his duties as he may deem necessary, subject to the approval of the provincial board; their salaries shall be fixed by the provincial secretary-treasurer, with like approval. The number and salary of such employees shall be reported by the secretary-treasurer to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago at the close of each month, who shall have power to abolish such offices or reduce salaries so as to secure economy of expenditure in provinces of substantially the same population and resources; and no increase shall be made in the number of employees or the amount of the salaries lifter having been once reduced by the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago before his approval of the proposed increase shall have been obtained: Provided, That after March first, nineteen hundred and three, such deputies and clerks shall lie selected in accordance with the rules and restrictions of the Civil Service Act. The provincial secretary-treasurer shall have authority to require a bond from each of his deputies in a penal sum equal to the largest amount of public funds of every kind that such deputy is likely to have in his custody at any one time.
He shall be the custodian of the funds of the province, and shall pay no money out of the provincial treasury except upon warrants drawn in accordance with law, which, duly indorsed by the payee named therein, shall be his voucher for their payment. He shall board of the transactions of his office for the preceding month, and shall include, among other things, the amount of the cash on hand at the beginning of the month and the receipts during the month from every source, the payments during the month and on what accounts paid, and the balance on hand at the close of the last day of the month. The provincial board shall examine such accounts, and, if found correct, shall so certify on the face of the accounts. He shall forward a copy of his monthly accounts, so approved, to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago, and another to the Auditor for the Philippine Archipelago. The reports or accounts-current submitted to the Auditor shall be accompanied by all of their supporting vouchers to enable the Auditor to settle and adjust the same and certify the balance thereon. Such accounts-current, vouchers, and paid warrants shall be as prescribed by the rules prepared under section sixteen to the Provincial Government Act, as hereinafter amended. The provincial secretary-treasurer shall retain a copy of his accounts-current and of their supporting vouchers.
He shall also perform the duties of registrar of property pending the appointment of such registrar for the province under a new system of land registration. It shall be his duty to take possession of all the books and papers relating to the office of registrar of property, and to make an orderly arrangement thereof, and to make diligent search for such books and papers belonging to the office as are not found therein.
SEC. 8. The provincial supervisor shall have supervision of the construction, repair, and maintenance of the roads, bridges, and ferries of the province. He shall also have charge of the construction and repair of public buildings and the offices of the provincial government, and shall be the custodian thereof under the direction of the provincial board. All contracts for the construction, repair, and maintenance of buildings, roads, bridges, or ferries shall be let by the provincial supervisor, with the approval of the provincial board, and no payment, partial or final, upon any contract made for such work shall be made except upon the certificate of the supervisor that the same is due. Before a contract is let for work it shall be the duty of the supervisor to prepare proper plans and specifications, and to make an estimate of the cost thereof, and to submit the supervisor, with the approval of the provincial board, shall be forwarded by the supervisor to the Auditor for the Philippine Archipelago. He shall make monthly reports to the provincial board as to the condition of the roads, bridges, and public buildings of the province, and shall recommend to the board the repairs and new construction which are necessary.
The supervisor shall have power to appoint such permanent assistants, clerks, and employees in his office as may be approved by the provincial board. The number and salaries of such employees shall be reported by the supervisor to the Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago, who shall have the power to abolish any such offices and reduce salaries of the same as in the case of the employees of the provincial governor. After March first, nineteen hundred and three, such assistants, clerks, and employees shall be selected in accordance with the rules and restrictions of the Civil Service Act. It shall be the duty of the provincial supervisor to see that the roads, bridges, and public buildings of the province are kept in proper repair. All stationery and office supplies of every character shall be purchased by him, upon the order of the provincial board, for the use of the provincial officers. He shall keep a property account, in which he shall charge the provincial officers with the furniture or other personal property delivered to them and held or used by them for public purposes, and shall take receipts for all supplies thus delivered by him.
He shall give bond to the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands, for whom it may concern, to accure the proper accounting for all money, property, and supplies entrusted to his custody. It shall be the duty of the Civil Governor to fix the amount of the bond, and of the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago to approve the same and record and retain it in this custody. In case of a vacancy in the office of provincial supervisor, or when, for any reason, such officer can not perform his duties, the provincial secretary-treasurer shall be vested with the power to purchase stationery and office supplies, and in making such purchases and delivering the same to the provincial officers he shall keep a property account and take the receipts required of the provincial supervisor by section ten of the Provincial Government Act.
SEC. 9. The provincial fiscal shall be the attorney and legal adviser of the provincial government and of each of its officers when called upon, and they may require from him written opinions. He shall represent the provincial government in all suits brought on its behalf or against it in the course of the province or in the courts of any other province. He shall be the legal adviser of the council and president of each township or settlement of the province, and shall upon the request of any president or council submit in writing his views upon any question properly arising in the discharge of their public duties. He shall, in the course of the province, represent the public in all criminal cases, and perform such duties with reference to the institution of all criminal prosecution as the Code of Criminal Procedure shall require. In cases where the interests of any township or settlement and and of the provincial government are opposed, he shall act on behalf of the provincial government, and the township or settlement shall be obliged to employ special counsel. The Attorney-General shall represent the provincial government, except as hereinafter provided, in all suits for or against it which shall come into the Supreme Court. In suits by the government of Nueva Vizcaya against the government of any other province, the Attorney-General shall take no part, and the provinces engaged in the litigation shall be represented in the Supreme Court by their respective provincial fiscals. When any criminal case is appealed to the Supreme Court the provincial fiscal shall forthwith make a report to the Attorney-General directs, the provincial fiscal shall appear in such case in the Supreme Court on appeal. The Attorney-General shall have general supervision of the provincial fiscal of Nueva Vizcaya, shall prepare rules for his guidance, and may require reports from him as to the condition of the public business in the court of his province. Whenever the provincial fiscal is absent from the province, or fails or refuses to discharge his duty be reason of illness or other cause, or by reason of personal interest in a prosecution or other matter is disqualified to act therein as provincial fiscal, the judge of the Court of First Instance for the province is authorized and required to appoint a temporary provincial fiscal, who shall be paid out of the provincial treasury the same compensation per day as that provided by law for the regular provincial fiscal for the days actually employed. The fiscal thus temporarily appointed shall discharge all the duties of the provincial fiscal as provided by law which the regular provincial fiscal fails or is unable to perform. He may, by authority of the provincial board, have a deputy fiscal, and a clerk or clerks, to be appointed by the provincial fiscal, at such salaries, out of the provincial treasury, as may be allowed, with the concurrence of the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago: Provided, That after the first of March, nineteen hundred and three, such clerk or clerks shall be selected in accordance with the rules and restrictions of the Civil Service Act.
SEC. 10. The salaries of the provincial officers shall be payable monthly, so that one-twelfth of the annual salary shall be paid on the last day of each calendar month. Each provincial officer shall be allowed his necessary and actual traveling expenses, not exceeding three dollars per day, while absent from the capital of the province on official business; the allowance shall be made by the provincial board upon a certificate of the officer that the travel was necessary for the public business, and shall not be paid until the account, accompanied by a resolution of the board approving the same, shall be forwarded to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago and by him approved.
SEC. 11. The provincial governor, provincial secretary-treasurer, and provincial supervisor of Nueva Vizcaya shall constitute the provincial board. The governor shall be the presiding officer of the board, and the secretary-treasurer shall be its secretary and shall keep its minutes.
SEC. 12. It shall be the duty of the provincial board—
(a) To provide by construction or purchase or renting suitable offices for the provincial officers, and a court-house containing a room or rooms suitable for the holding of court and for offices for the court officers, and a provincial jail in the municipality fixed by law as the capital of the province. The provincial building shall first be used for the purpose of affording sufficient office room to all the provincial officers. If, after supplying this necessary office room, the building affords sufficient accommodation for the residence of the governor of the province, he may occupy the building for this purpose. The assignment of rooms for offices and the residence of the governor in the provincial building shall be made by the provincial board.
(b) To furnish a suitable vault or safe to the provincial secretary-treasurer, in which he shall keep the provincial or other public funds as long as they are in his custody, except as hereinafter provided.
(c) To order, in its discretion, the construction, repair, or maintenance of roads, bridges, or ferries within the province on the recommendation of the provincial supervisor, and to approve or reject contracts for such construction or repair, and the construction or repair of provincial buildings let by the provincial supervisor. No contract for construction of a road, bridge, or of a public building shall be entered into until the provincial secretary-treasurer shall certify that there is in the provincial treasury a sum sufficient to meet the estimated cost of the construction of the improvement which may be lawfully devoted to such purpose; and after such certificate shall be made and filed and the contract entered into, the provincial secretary-treasurer shall treat the sum thus certified as not subject to warrant except to me the obligations of the contract.
All work or repair, construction, or equipment of roads or buildings involving a greater cost than five hundred dollars, in money of the United States, shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder, after ten days public notice of the letting by advertisement in a paper of general circulation in the province, or, if there is no such paper, by a notice posted for ten days at the main entrance to the supervisor's office in the capital of the province. If the provincial board shall magnitude, it may authorize the supervisor, in addition to giving the public notices above required, to advertise for bids in a newspaper published in the city of Manila. The supervisor is authorized to reject any or all bids, and if the bids are too high, he may recommend to the board that he be allowed to purchase the material and hire the labor and himself supervise the work, and the board may then authorize such a course.
(d) To agree, upon the recommendation of the provincial supervisor, with the provincial board of any adjoining province, on the terms, within the limitations of law, upon which roads forming the boundary between the two provinces, and bridges or streams forming such boundary, shall be constructed, repaired, or maintained under the joint control of the two provincial governments.
(e) To direct, in its discretion, the bringing or defense of suits on behalf of the provincial government of Nueva Vizcaya, and to compromise the same on the recommendation of the provincial fiscal and the approval of the judge of First Instance for the district.
(f) To order the monthly payment of all salaries provided by law, and the payment of all lawfully contracted indebtedness, by directing the issue of warrants upon the provincial treasury. Every warrant shall be drawn by the governor and countersigned by the secretary-treasurer, and shall recite the cause and purpose of drawing the same, the date of the resolution authorizing it, and the page of the minutes of the board's proceedings on which it is recorded. Should the provincial secretary-treasurer deem any warrant drawn to be for an unlawful or unwarranted purpose, he may suspend payment and refer the question to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago, whose decision shall be mandatory upon him.
(g) To authorize the provincial secretary-treasurer to deposit so much of the provincial funds as may not be needed in the near future for public use in a bank of deposit of approved standing in the Islands. All interest paid on such deposit shall inure to the benefit of the provincial treasury, and no funds shall be deposited in the bank by the secretary-treasurer until there shall be spread upon the minutes of the board a resolution reciting and approving the exact terms of the contract or deposit in the bank. The bank shall certify the weekly balances of provincial funds held by it to the provincial governor and to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago.
(h) To hold regular weekly meetings upon a day to be fixed by the board, and special meetings upon the call of the governor. The meetings of the board shall be open to the public.
(i) To provide for the appointment of subordinate employees by the various provincial officers, and to approve or disapprove their salaries; but such order of the board shall not have effect until notice thereof shall have been given to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago and it shall receive his approval.
(j) To adopt rules regulating the hours of employment of the subordinate in the various offices.
(k) To provide an official seal for the province.
SEC. 13. (a) No provincial official shall leave the province without obtaining permission so to do from the Civil Governor.
(b) Should the Civil Governor have reason to believe that any provincial officer is guilty of disloyalty, dishonesty, oppression, or misconduct in office, he may suspend him from the discharge of the duties of his office, and, after due notice tot he suspended officer, shall investigate the cause of suspension and either remove him, with the advice and consent of the Commission, from office, or reinstate him, as the circumstances may require; pending the suspension of the provincial officer the Civil Governor shall have the power temporarily to appoint a person who shall in the interim discharge the duties of the suspended officer, and in case the suspended officer is the secretary-treasurer, to make such provision with respect to the bond of the temporary appointee as may to him seem wise. The temporary appointee shall receive the same compensation as is given by law to the permanent appointee, to be paid from the provincial treasury as other salaries. In case the suspension results in a removal, the removed appointee shall not receive any compensation from and after the date of his suspension. Should he be reinstated, it shall be in the discretion of the Civil Governor to direct that his compensation, during the period of his suspension, shall be withheld, or paid from the provincial treasury. Suspension or removal under this section shall not prevent the institution of criminal proceedings against the person suspended or removed. Every provincial officer shall be subject to prosecution, for a criminal act committed by him, in Courts of First Instance, in the same manner as any other person.
(c) In case of the absence of any provincial officer the Civil Governor shall have power to appoint a person to perform the duties of the office during such absence.
(d) Vacancies in provincial offices created by removal, resignation, or death shall be filled by appointment by the Civil Governor within thirty days after the vacancy occurs.
SEC. 14. (a) The actual and necessary traveling expenses of the deputies, subordinates, and other employees of provincial officers engaged in traveling in the province on official business shall be paid from the provincial treasury when authorized by the provincial board and approved by the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago. The same limitation as to the amount of the expenses per day which applies to the traveling expenses of the provincial officers shall apply to those herein authorized.
(b) In applying the statutory limitation upon the amount per day which can be actually expended and reimbursed to provincial officers a and their subordinates for expenses in traveling on official business for the province, the total actual traveling expenses for each quarter shall be added together and divided by the number of days of the quarter during which the officer or his subordinate has been absent on public business in the province from the capital thereof; and if the amount per day this calculated and averaged for the quarter does not exceed the limitation of maximum per diem expenses hereinbefore authorized, the whole amount actually expended shall be allowed to the officer or his subordinate.
SEC. 15. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.
SEC. 16. This Act shall take effect on its passage.
Enacted, January 28, 1902.
SECTION 1. A civil provincial government is hereby established for the Province of Nueva Vizcaya.
SEC. 2. The officers of this government shall be—
(a) A provincial governor, at a salary of two thousand four Governor hundred dollars per year;
(b) A provincial secretary-treasurer, at a salary of one thousand secretary-treasurer two hundred dollars per year;
(c) A provincial supervisor, at a salary of one thousand two hundred dollars per year;
(d) A provincial fiscal, who shall be the provincial fiscal of the Province of Isabela, and who shall receive an annual compensation of four hundred dollars for his services as provincial fiscal of Nueva Vizcaya.
All in money of the United States.
(e) No person shall be eligible for any of these offices who is not either a citizen of the United States, a native of the Philippine Islands, or a person who, not being a subject or citizen of any other power or government, may have under or by virtue of the treaty of Paris acquired the political rights of a native of the Islands, or who, having taken the oath of allegiance to the United States, shall violate the same. Nonresidence in the province shall not render the person elected or appointed to the office ineligible.
SEC. 3. These officers shall be appointed by the Civil Governor, with the advice and consent of the United States Philippine Commission, and shall hold office during his pleasure. They shall reside and have their offices in the municipality of Bayombong, which shall be the capital of the province.
SEC. 4. After March first, nineteen hundred and three, the provincial secretary-treasurer and the provincial supervisor shall be selected under the provisions and restrictions of the Civil Service Act. The provincial secretary-treasurer shall be able to speak and write the Spanish language, and. after January first, nineteen hundred and six, the English language also. The provincial supervisor shall be a competent civil engineer and surveyor. Before the secretary-treasurer shall qualify he shall give a bond to the Insular Government for the benefit of whom it may concern, with sufficient surety, in the sum of five thousand dollars; the surety, or sureties, shall be approved by the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago. The bond shall be conditioned to secure the faithful performance of the duties of the office as now or hereafter prescribed by law, and for the accounting for all funds coming into his hands as secretary-treasurer, or into those of his authorized deputies, during his incumbency, and in case of death or removal, until the statement of his accounts by the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago. His bond shall, after its approval, be filed with the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago, who shall record the same in a book to be supervision, kept for the purpose and shall safely keep the same. The Treasurer for the Philippine. Archipelago shall exercise the same supervision over his office that he exercises over the offices of provincial treasurers in the provinces organized under the Provincial Government Act.
SEC. 5. Before assuming office each provincial officer shall take and subscribe to the following oath or affirmation:
"I, _________________________________, having been_____________________________(appointed or elected, as the case may be) to the office of_________________________________of the Province of_________________________________do hereby solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will well and truly perform all the duties of said office; that I will faithfully account for all moneys coming into my hands as such officer; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Government of the United States; that I take this oath without any mental reservation whatsoever. So help me God." (In case of affirmation the last four words shall be omitted.)The oaths of office may be administered to provincial officers by a member of the Commission, the secretary to the same, the governor of the province, or any United States Army officer stationed in the province, by the judge of First, Instance within whose judicial district the said province has, or by any other judicial officer having jurisdiction therein. The oaths shall be filed in the office of the secretary-treasurer of the province.
SEC. 6. The provincial governor shall be the chief executive officer of the province. He shall report to the Civil Governor; he shall see that the laws are faithfully executed by all the officers in the province; he shall receive the judge of First Instance when he enters the province to hold the terms of court therein, and shall provide for his protection and entertainment, charging the reasonable expenses thereof to the provincial treasury, which shall not exceed three dollars per day. The governor shall attend the Court of First Instance when in session, by himself or a deputy, as the chief executive officer of the court and province, and shall execute such processes as he shall be required to execute by law, subject to other provisions of law. He shall have control of the local constabulary or police of the various townships or settlements of the province; and may, when the public interests require, temporarily withdraw from the township or settlement in which such police of constabulary are organized a part thereof for use in other townships or settlements of the province. Upon the filing of charges, or upon receiving authentic information of maladministration by any officer of a township or settlement of the province he may suspend such officer and shall immediately forward to the Civil Governor a statement of the grounds for such suspension, together with the evidence upon which he has acted, giving notice of his action to the suspended official; the Civil Governor shall, after hearing and investigation, either remove the suspended officer or reinstate him. The provincial governor shall preside at all meetings of the provincial hoard hereinafter constituted. He shall, at least once in every six months, visit every township or settlement in the province. While in the township or settlement he shall hear all complaints made against the conduct of any of its executive officers and take suitable action thereon, either by dismissing the complaints or by suspending the official and transmitting the charges to the Civil Governor, or by directing the provincial fiscal to bring a criminal or civil suit in the public interest against the person complained of, if the charge made involves either civil or criminal liability.
Whenever any township or settlement official shall be suspended by the governor of the province in accordance with the provisions of this Act, it shall he the duty of the provincial governor at once to file written charges with the provincial board setting forth the nature of the complaints made against, the suspended official, and thereupon the board shall immediately furnish a copy of said charges to the accused official, with a notification of the time and place of hearing upon said charges, and at the time and place appointed the board shall proceed to hear and investigate the truth or falsity of said charges, giving the suspended official full opportunity to be beard. The hearing shall occur as soon as may be practicable after the charges are filed. Upon the completion of the hearing the board shall immediately forward, in writing, its findings as to the truth or falsity of the charges, together with the charges and evidence taken by the board, and its recommendation as to whether the official ought or ought not to be dismissed, to the Civil Governor, and the Civil Governor shall thereupon, upon the receipt of said findings, charges, and evidence, order the suspended official to be reinstated or dismissed as the facts shall warrant. In case the Vacancies Civil Governor shall order the official to be dismissed, the vacancy shall he filled in the manner required by an Act providing for the establishment of local civil governments in the townships and settlements of Nueva Vizcaya.
Between the first and fifteenth of January of each year he shall make a report of the condition of the province for the year ending on the previous thirty-first of December to the Civil Governor, recommending therein such measures, executive or legislative, as to him may seem best for the betterment of the conditions in the province. Whenever lawless violence or seditious conspiracy and disturbance of the public peace shall occur of so formidable a character as to be beyond the power of the local police of the province to suppress, it shall be the duty of the governor to call upon the Civil Governor or the military officer commanding the district in which custody of prisoners, the province has to send troops to suppress the disturbance. The governor shall, through a jailer and guards to be appointed by him, have custody of all prisoners held awaiting trial or duly sentenced to the provincial jail. He shall employ such deputies and assistants in discharging his duties as he may deem necessary, subject to the approval of the provincial board; their salaries shall be fixed by the governor, with like approval. The number and duties of such employees shall be reported by the governor to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago at the close of each month, who shall have power to abolish such subordinate offices or reduce salaries so as to secure economy and uniformity of expenditure in provinces of substantially the same population and resources, and no increase shall be made in the number of employees or the amount of the salaries after having been once reduced by the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago before bis approval of the proposed increase shall have been obtained: Provided, That after March first, nineteen hundred and three, such employees shall be selected in accordance with the rules and restrictions of the Civil Service Act. The salaries shall be paid out of the provincial treasury. He shall make known to the people of his province, by proclamation or communications delivered to the presidents of the several townships or settlements, all general laws or governmental orders which concern them. He shall pass upon every ordinance or act of the several township councils of the province, approving it should be deem it satisfactory; should he deem it unsatisfactory, he shall return it to the council, suggesting suitable amendments; the council shall inform him of its action, and he shall then approve tin modify it, as he may deem necessary township fail to fix the limits of the salaries of duly authorized appropriations for lawful and to regulate the sanitation of the ordinance or act as amended, or should the council of any the barrios of the township; to fix officers and employees; to make appropriations for lawful and necessary township expenditures; to regulate the sanitation of the township, and order the removal of nuisances and causes of disease; to regulate the running at large of domestic animals; to adopt suitable measures to prevent the spread of disease; to prohibit gambling, cock fighting, opium smoking, or the sale of opium for smoking; to provide and enforce regulations for the taxation of the retail sale, in quantities of less than five gallons, of any intoxicating, fermented, malt, or vinous liquors, except the native beverage made from rice and known as "tapuy;" to impose such other license fees as may be required by general law; to provide for the care of the poor, the sick, or of orphans; to provide for the establishment and maintenance of schools for primary instruction; to provide for the construction and maintenance of necessary water works for supplying the inhabitants of the township with water, and for insuring the equitable distribution and use of water for the purpose of irrigation in the township; or, in general, to provide for carrying into effect and discharging the powers and duties conferred on them by an Act providing for the establishment of local civil governments in the townships and settlements of Public health and the Province of Nueva Vizcaya; or should it fail to enact such measures as are necessary and proper to provide for the health and safety, promote the prosperity, improve the morals, good order, peace, comfort, and convenience of the township and the inhabitants thereof and for the protection of the property therein:
Then the governor shall issue to the president of such township suitable written orders for securing these ends, and these orders shall have the effect of law. But the constant aim of the governor shall be to aid the people of the several townships of the province to acquire the knowledge and experience necessary for successful local popular government, and his supervision and control shall be confined within the narrowest limits consistent with the requirement that the powers of government in the township shall be honestly and effectively exercised, and that law and order and individual freedom shall be maintained.
The governor shall fix the dates for the first township or settlement elections in the several townships and settlements, and the day or days during each month from January fifteenth to June thirtieth of each year on which the people of the several townships or settlements may appear before the presidents to pay their taxes: Provided, That the last day so fixed shall be the thirtieth of June of each year. He shall be authorized to carry, as a badge of his office, a walking stick of white Indian cane, with gold head and gold cord.
SEC. 7. The provincial secretary-treasurer shall attest all the official acts of the provincial governor under the seal of the province, and shall record all of such acts as are required by law to be recorded. He shall be the custodian of the provincial seal. He shall receive from the provincial governor and file in his office all reports to the provincial governor required by law, and shall index the same, and he shall generally act as custodian of all provincial records and documents. He shall, on demand, furnish certified copies of all public records and documents, for which he may charge as personal compensation, in addition to his regular salary, the amount of ten cents (Mexican) per one hundred words, including the certificate. In case of a vacancy in the office of governor, or vice-governor. the absence of the governor from the province, the secretary-treasurer shall discharge the duties of the governor during such vacancy or absence or until the vacancy shall be filled as hereinafter provided.
The secretary-treasurer shall be the chief financial officer of the province. He shall, in person or by authorized deputy, supervise the appraisement and assessment of real property in all the townships or settlements of the province in the manner provided in an Act providing for the establishment of local civil governments in the townships and settlements of the Province of Nueva Vizcaya, except where otherwise specially provided. He shall, by himself or deputy, collect all taxes imposed upon property or persons in the province either by the townships or settlements of the province, the provincial government, or the Central Government of the Islands. It shall be his duty to procure a certified copy of the tax-assessment certified copy of the tax-assessment list from each township or settlement of the province, and file the same in his office, and to make an alphabetical index thereof, which list, and alphabetical index shall be a public record. He shall have deputies power to employ such deputies and assistants in discharging his duties as he may deem necessary, subject to the approval of the provincial board; their salaries shall be fixed by the provincial secretary-treasurer, with like approval. The number and salary of such employees shall be reported by the secretary-treasurer to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago at the close of each month, who shall have power to abolish such offices or reduce salaries so as to secure economy of expenditure in provinces of substantially the same population and resources; and no increase shall be made in the number of employees or the amount of the salaries lifter having been once reduced by the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago before his approval of the proposed increase shall have been obtained: Provided, That after March first, nineteen hundred and three, such deputies and clerks shall lie selected in accordance with the rules and restrictions of the Civil Service Act. The provincial secretary-treasurer shall have authority to require a bond from each of his deputies in a penal sum equal to the largest amount of public funds of every kind that such deputy is likely to have in his custody at any one time.
He shall be the custodian of the funds of the province, and shall pay no money out of the provincial treasury except upon warrants drawn in accordance with law, which, duly indorsed by the payee named therein, shall be his voucher for their payment. He shall board of the transactions of his office for the preceding month, and shall include, among other things, the amount of the cash on hand at the beginning of the month and the receipts during the month from every source, the payments during the month and on what accounts paid, and the balance on hand at the close of the last day of the month. The provincial board shall examine such accounts, and, if found correct, shall so certify on the face of the accounts. He shall forward a copy of his monthly accounts, so approved, to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago, and another to the Auditor for the Philippine Archipelago. The reports or accounts-current submitted to the Auditor shall be accompanied by all of their supporting vouchers to enable the Auditor to settle and adjust the same and certify the balance thereon. Such accounts-current, vouchers, and paid warrants shall be as prescribed by the rules prepared under section sixteen to the Provincial Government Act, as hereinafter amended. The provincial secretary-treasurer shall retain a copy of his accounts-current and of their supporting vouchers.
He shall also perform the duties of registrar of property pending the appointment of such registrar for the province under a new system of land registration. It shall be his duty to take possession of all the books and papers relating to the office of registrar of property, and to make an orderly arrangement thereof, and to make diligent search for such books and papers belonging to the office as are not found therein.
SEC. 8. The provincial supervisor shall have supervision of the construction, repair, and maintenance of the roads, bridges, and ferries of the province. He shall also have charge of the construction and repair of public buildings and the offices of the provincial government, and shall be the custodian thereof under the direction of the provincial board. All contracts for the construction, repair, and maintenance of buildings, roads, bridges, or ferries shall be let by the provincial supervisor, with the approval of the provincial board, and no payment, partial or final, upon any contract made for such work shall be made except upon the certificate of the supervisor that the same is due. Before a contract is let for work it shall be the duty of the supervisor to prepare proper plans and specifications, and to make an estimate of the cost thereof, and to submit the supervisor, with the approval of the provincial board, shall be forwarded by the supervisor to the Auditor for the Philippine Archipelago. He shall make monthly reports to the provincial board as to the condition of the roads, bridges, and public buildings of the province, and shall recommend to the board the repairs and new construction which are necessary.
The supervisor shall have power to appoint such permanent assistants, clerks, and employees in his office as may be approved by the provincial board. The number and salaries of such employees shall be reported by the supervisor to the Treasurer of the Philippine Archipelago, who shall have the power to abolish any such offices and reduce salaries of the same as in the case of the employees of the provincial governor. After March first, nineteen hundred and three, such assistants, clerks, and employees shall be selected in accordance with the rules and restrictions of the Civil Service Act. It shall be the duty of the provincial supervisor to see that the roads, bridges, and public buildings of the province are kept in proper repair. All stationery and office supplies of every character shall be purchased by him, upon the order of the provincial board, for the use of the provincial officers. He shall keep a property account, in which he shall charge the provincial officers with the furniture or other personal property delivered to them and held or used by them for public purposes, and shall take receipts for all supplies thus delivered by him.
He shall give bond to the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands, for whom it may concern, to accure the proper accounting for all money, property, and supplies entrusted to his custody. It shall be the duty of the Civil Governor to fix the amount of the bond, and of the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago to approve the same and record and retain it in this custody. In case of a vacancy in the office of provincial supervisor, or when, for any reason, such officer can not perform his duties, the provincial secretary-treasurer shall be vested with the power to purchase stationery and office supplies, and in making such purchases and delivering the same to the provincial officers he shall keep a property account and take the receipts required of the provincial supervisor by section ten of the Provincial Government Act.
SEC. 9. The provincial fiscal shall be the attorney and legal adviser of the provincial government and of each of its officers when called upon, and they may require from him written opinions. He shall represent the provincial government in all suits brought on its behalf or against it in the course of the province or in the courts of any other province. He shall be the legal adviser of the council and president of each township or settlement of the province, and shall upon the request of any president or council submit in writing his views upon any question properly arising in the discharge of their public duties. He shall, in the course of the province, represent the public in all criminal cases, and perform such duties with reference to the institution of all criminal prosecution as the Code of Criminal Procedure shall require. In cases where the interests of any township or settlement and and of the provincial government are opposed, he shall act on behalf of the provincial government, and the township or settlement shall be obliged to employ special counsel. The Attorney-General shall represent the provincial government, except as hereinafter provided, in all suits for or against it which shall come into the Supreme Court. In suits by the government of Nueva Vizcaya against the government of any other province, the Attorney-General shall take no part, and the provinces engaged in the litigation shall be represented in the Supreme Court by their respective provincial fiscals. When any criminal case is appealed to the Supreme Court the provincial fiscal shall forthwith make a report to the Attorney-General directs, the provincial fiscal shall appear in such case in the Supreme Court on appeal. The Attorney-General shall have general supervision of the provincial fiscal of Nueva Vizcaya, shall prepare rules for his guidance, and may require reports from him as to the condition of the public business in the court of his province. Whenever the provincial fiscal is absent from the province, or fails or refuses to discharge his duty be reason of illness or other cause, or by reason of personal interest in a prosecution or other matter is disqualified to act therein as provincial fiscal, the judge of the Court of First Instance for the province is authorized and required to appoint a temporary provincial fiscal, who shall be paid out of the provincial treasury the same compensation per day as that provided by law for the regular provincial fiscal for the days actually employed. The fiscal thus temporarily appointed shall discharge all the duties of the provincial fiscal as provided by law which the regular provincial fiscal fails or is unable to perform. He may, by authority of the provincial board, have a deputy fiscal, and a clerk or clerks, to be appointed by the provincial fiscal, at such salaries, out of the provincial treasury, as may be allowed, with the concurrence of the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago: Provided, That after the first of March, nineteen hundred and three, such clerk or clerks shall be selected in accordance with the rules and restrictions of the Civil Service Act.
SEC. 10. The salaries of the provincial officers shall be payable monthly, so that one-twelfth of the annual salary shall be paid on the last day of each calendar month. Each provincial officer shall be allowed his necessary and actual traveling expenses, not exceeding three dollars per day, while absent from the capital of the province on official business; the allowance shall be made by the provincial board upon a certificate of the officer that the travel was necessary for the public business, and shall not be paid until the account, accompanied by a resolution of the board approving the same, shall be forwarded to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago and by him approved.
SEC. 11. The provincial governor, provincial secretary-treasurer, and provincial supervisor of Nueva Vizcaya shall constitute the provincial board. The governor shall be the presiding officer of the board, and the secretary-treasurer shall be its secretary and shall keep its minutes.
SEC. 12. It shall be the duty of the provincial board—
(a) To provide by construction or purchase or renting suitable offices for the provincial officers, and a court-house containing a room or rooms suitable for the holding of court and for offices for the court officers, and a provincial jail in the municipality fixed by law as the capital of the province. The provincial building shall first be used for the purpose of affording sufficient office room to all the provincial officers. If, after supplying this necessary office room, the building affords sufficient accommodation for the residence of the governor of the province, he may occupy the building for this purpose. The assignment of rooms for offices and the residence of the governor in the provincial building shall be made by the provincial board.
(b) To furnish a suitable vault or safe to the provincial secretary-treasurer, in which he shall keep the provincial or other public funds as long as they are in his custody, except as hereinafter provided.
(c) To order, in its discretion, the construction, repair, or maintenance of roads, bridges, or ferries within the province on the recommendation of the provincial supervisor, and to approve or reject contracts for such construction or repair, and the construction or repair of provincial buildings let by the provincial supervisor. No contract for construction of a road, bridge, or of a public building shall be entered into until the provincial secretary-treasurer shall certify that there is in the provincial treasury a sum sufficient to meet the estimated cost of the construction of the improvement which may be lawfully devoted to such purpose; and after such certificate shall be made and filed and the contract entered into, the provincial secretary-treasurer shall treat the sum thus certified as not subject to warrant except to me the obligations of the contract.
All work or repair, construction, or equipment of roads or buildings involving a greater cost than five hundred dollars, in money of the United States, shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder, after ten days public notice of the letting by advertisement in a paper of general circulation in the province, or, if there is no such paper, by a notice posted for ten days at the main entrance to the supervisor's office in the capital of the province. If the provincial board shall magnitude, it may authorize the supervisor, in addition to giving the public notices above required, to advertise for bids in a newspaper published in the city of Manila. The supervisor is authorized to reject any or all bids, and if the bids are too high, he may recommend to the board that he be allowed to purchase the material and hire the labor and himself supervise the work, and the board may then authorize such a course.
(d) To agree, upon the recommendation of the provincial supervisor, with the provincial board of any adjoining province, on the terms, within the limitations of law, upon which roads forming the boundary between the two provinces, and bridges or streams forming such boundary, shall be constructed, repaired, or maintained under the joint control of the two provincial governments.
(e) To direct, in its discretion, the bringing or defense of suits on behalf of the provincial government of Nueva Vizcaya, and to compromise the same on the recommendation of the provincial fiscal and the approval of the judge of First Instance for the district.
(f) To order the monthly payment of all salaries provided by law, and the payment of all lawfully contracted indebtedness, by directing the issue of warrants upon the provincial treasury. Every warrant shall be drawn by the governor and countersigned by the secretary-treasurer, and shall recite the cause and purpose of drawing the same, the date of the resolution authorizing it, and the page of the minutes of the board's proceedings on which it is recorded. Should the provincial secretary-treasurer deem any warrant drawn to be for an unlawful or unwarranted purpose, he may suspend payment and refer the question to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago, whose decision shall be mandatory upon him.
(g) To authorize the provincial secretary-treasurer to deposit so much of the provincial funds as may not be needed in the near future for public use in a bank of deposit of approved standing in the Islands. All interest paid on such deposit shall inure to the benefit of the provincial treasury, and no funds shall be deposited in the bank by the secretary-treasurer until there shall be spread upon the minutes of the board a resolution reciting and approving the exact terms of the contract or deposit in the bank. The bank shall certify the weekly balances of provincial funds held by it to the provincial governor and to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago.
(h) To hold regular weekly meetings upon a day to be fixed by the board, and special meetings upon the call of the governor. The meetings of the board shall be open to the public.
(i) To provide for the appointment of subordinate employees by the various provincial officers, and to approve or disapprove their salaries; but such order of the board shall not have effect until notice thereof shall have been given to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago and it shall receive his approval.
(j) To adopt rules regulating the hours of employment of the subordinate in the various offices.
(k) To provide an official seal for the province.
SEC. 13. (a) No provincial official shall leave the province without obtaining permission so to do from the Civil Governor.
(b) Should the Civil Governor have reason to believe that any provincial officer is guilty of disloyalty, dishonesty, oppression, or misconduct in office, he may suspend him from the discharge of the duties of his office, and, after due notice tot he suspended officer, shall investigate the cause of suspension and either remove him, with the advice and consent of the Commission, from office, or reinstate him, as the circumstances may require; pending the suspension of the provincial officer the Civil Governor shall have the power temporarily to appoint a person who shall in the interim discharge the duties of the suspended officer, and in case the suspended officer is the secretary-treasurer, to make such provision with respect to the bond of the temporary appointee as may to him seem wise. The temporary appointee shall receive the same compensation as is given by law to the permanent appointee, to be paid from the provincial treasury as other salaries. In case the suspension results in a removal, the removed appointee shall not receive any compensation from and after the date of his suspension. Should he be reinstated, it shall be in the discretion of the Civil Governor to direct that his compensation, during the period of his suspension, shall be withheld, or paid from the provincial treasury. Suspension or removal under this section shall not prevent the institution of criminal proceedings against the person suspended or removed. Every provincial officer shall be subject to prosecution, for a criminal act committed by him, in Courts of First Instance, in the same manner as any other person.
(c) In case of the absence of any provincial officer the Civil Governor shall have power to appoint a person to perform the duties of the office during such absence.
(d) Vacancies in provincial offices created by removal, resignation, or death shall be filled by appointment by the Civil Governor within thirty days after the vacancy occurs.
SEC. 14. (a) The actual and necessary traveling expenses of the deputies, subordinates, and other employees of provincial officers engaged in traveling in the province on official business shall be paid from the provincial treasury when authorized by the provincial board and approved by the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago. The same limitation as to the amount of the expenses per day which applies to the traveling expenses of the provincial officers shall apply to those herein authorized.
(b) In applying the statutory limitation upon the amount per day which can be actually expended and reimbursed to provincial officers a and their subordinates for expenses in traveling on official business for the province, the total actual traveling expenses for each quarter shall be added together and divided by the number of days of the quarter during which the officer or his subordinate has been absent on public business in the province from the capital thereof; and if the amount per day this calculated and averaged for the quarter does not exceed the limitation of maximum per diem expenses hereinbefore authorized, the whole amount actually expended shall be allowed to the officer or his subordinate.
SEC. 15. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.
SEC. 16. This Act shall take effect on its passage.
Enacted, January 28, 1902.