[ Act No. 2724, December 07, 1917 ]

AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE SEPARATION OF THE SUBPROVINCE OF ROMBLON FROM THE PROVINCE OF CAPIZ AND THE REESTABLISHMENT OF THE FORMER PROVINCE OF ROMBLON, 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 Governor-General is hereby authorized to reestablish as an independent province, as soon as the public interest may require it, the former Province of Romblon, consolidated with that of Capiz under Act Numbei'ed Sixteen hundred and sixty-five.

SEC. 2. The Province of Romblon so reestablished shall t have the same territory as before its consolidation with the Province of Capiz, and its capital shall be the municipality of Romblon, on the island of the same name. The provisions of the Administrative Code, in so far as they are applicable to a regularly organized province, shall apply to the government and operation of said province and to the election and appointment of the officers thereof.

SEC. 3. Upon the separation being ordered by the Governor-General, the elective provincial officers of the new Province of Romblon shall for the time being appointed by the said Governor-General, by and with the consent of the Senate, and shall hold office until their successors shall be duly elected and qualified. The provincial officers of Romblon shall each receive an annual compensation at the rate fixed by the provincial board, which shall not in any case exceed two thousand pesos for the provincial governor, nineteen hundred pesos for the provincial treasurer, and eighteen hundred pesos for the provincial fiscal, find for each member of the provincial board a per diem not to exceed five pesos for each session actually attended.

SEC. 4. The Province of Romblon shall have a Representative in the House of Representatives and shall continue' to  belong to the  Seventh  Senate  District.    The present Representative for the Third Electoral District of Capiz shall, during his term of office, be considered as Representative for the Province of Romblon.

SEC. 5. At the next election for the office of Representative in the Province of Capiz, the three electoral districts of said province shall be composed of the following municipalities: First District, of the municipalities of Capiz, Dao, Dumarao, Iuisan, Panay, Panitan, Pilar, and Pontevedra; Second District, Banga, Dumalag, Jamindan, Mambusao, New Washington, Sapian, Sigma, and Tupas; Third District, Buruanga, Calivo, Ibajay, Lezo, Libacao, Makato, Malinao, and Nabas.

SEC. 6. Upon the segregation of the subprovince of Romblon from the Province of Capiz, the provincial governor' of the latter shall receive an annual compensation of four thousand pesos; the provincial treasurer, of three thousand six hundred pesos, and the provincial fiscal, of three thousand five hundred pesos.

SEC. 7. The funds and obligations and the property of all kinds to be assigned to the Province of Capiz and the new Province of Romblon upon the reestablishment of the latter, shall be distributed equitably between the two provinces, in such manner as the Insular Auditor may recommend and the Governor-General approve.

SEC. 8. All Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 9. This Act shall take effect pursuant to the provisions of section eleven of the Administrative Code.

Approved, December 7, 1917.