WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, June 21st, 1901. On and after the fourth day of July, 1901, until it shall be otherwise ordered, the President of the Philippine Commission will exercise the executive authority in all civil affairs in the government of the Philippine Islands heretofore exercised in such affairs by the Military Governor of the Philippines, and to that end the Hon. William H. Taft, President of the said Commission, is hereby appointed Civil Governor of the Philippine Islands. Such executive authority will be exercised under, and in conformity to, the instructions to the Philippine Commissioners, dated April 7, 1900, and subject to the approval and control of the Secretary of War of the United States. The municipal and provincial civil governments, which have been, or shall hereafter be, established in said islands, and all persons performing duties appertaining to the offices of civil government in said islands, will, in respect of such duties, report to the said Civil Governor. The power to appoint civil officers, heretofore vested in the Philippine Commission, or in the Military Governor, will be exercised by the Civil Governor with the advice and consent of the Commission. The Military Governor of the Philippines is hereby relieved from the performance, on and after the said 4th day of July, of the civil duties herein before described, but his authority will continue to be exercised as heretofore, in those districts in which insurrection against the authority of the United States continues to exist, or in which public order is not sufficiently restored to enable provincial civil governments to be established under the instructions to the Commission dated April 7, 1900. By the President: ELIHU ROOT, WHITE HOUSE, Washington, October 29, 1901. By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, the Honorable Luke E. Wright is appointed vice-governor with authority to act as civil governor of the Philippine Islands whenever the civil governor is incapacitated by illness, or certifies that his temporary absence from the seat of government will make it necessary for the vice governor to exercise such powers and duties. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. ERRATA. In order to make the Spanish and English texts of act No. 48, entitled "An act providing for the establishing of local civil governments in the townships of the province of Benguet," as herein published conform to the originals on file in the Secretary's office, the following corrections should be made: Section 1: The words "Baguias" and "Adaoy," in line 12 of the English text and 13 of the Spanish, should read "Buguias" and "Adaoay," and the word "Kibungan" should be inserted next after the word "Sablan" in line 12 of the former and 14 of the latter text. Section 8: The English text should read as follows: "The president and vice-president shall be elected at large by a plurality vote of the duly qualified electors of the township. The councilors shall be elected by a plurality vote of the duly qualified electors of each of the several barrios. The secretary, the constable, and the messenger shall be appointed by the president, by and with the consent of a majority of all the members of the council." 12 ACTS OF PHILIPPINE COMMISSION. [No. 1.] AN ACT appropriating two million dollars ($2,000,000.00) Mexican to be used in the construction and repair of highways and bridges in the Philippine Islands. By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. The sum of two million dollars ($2,000,000.00) Mexican is hereby appropriated out of any money in the insular treasury, not otherwise appropriated, to be expended in the immediate construction and repair of highways and bridges in the Philippine Islands. SEC. 2. The sum so appropriated shall be expended under the direction of the military governor in the construction and repair of such highways and bridges as in his judgment may be most conducive to the public welfare. SEC. 3. The insular treasurer is hereby authorized and directed to pay the warrants of the military governor for the sum so appropriated. SEC. 4. This act shall take effect on its passage. Enacted, September 12, 1900. [No. 2.] AN ACT appropriating five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) Mexican for the purpose of making a survey to ascertain the most advantageous route for a railroad into the mountains of Benguet, island of Luzon, and the probable cost thereof. By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. The sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) Mexican, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any funds in the insular treasury, not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of making a survey to ascertain the most advantageous route for a railroad into the mountains of Benguet, island of Luzon, and the probable cost thereof. SEC. 2. The disbursing officer of the commission is authorized and directed to draw his warrant for the amount appropriated by this bill, or so much thereof as may be necessary, and the insular treasurer is directed to pay the same. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage. Enacted, September 12, 1900. [No. 3.] AN ACT appropriating two thousand six hundred and seventeen dollars and ninetysix cents ($2,617.96) in the money of the United States for the purpose of paying the salary and expenses of Fred W. Atkinson for the period from May 5 to September 1, 1900. By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. The sum of two thousand six hundred and seventeen dollars and ninety-six cents ($2,617.96) in the money of the United States is hereby appropriated out of any funds in the insular treasury, not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of paying Fred W. Atkinson, superintendent of public instruction in the Philippine Islands, for services rendered and expenses incurred by him under direction of the Commission preliminary to assuming formally the duties of his office in the islands, for the period from May 5 to September 1, 1900. SEC. 2. The disbursing officer of the Commission is authorized and directed to draw his warrant for this amount in favor of Fred W. Atkinson, and the insular treasurer is directed to pay the same. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage. Enacted, September 12, 1900. [No. 4.] AN ACT appropriating one hundred dollars ($100.00) in the money of the United States for the purpose of paying the salary of the property clerk in the department of education for the period of one month from September 8 to October 8, 1900. By the authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that: pay SECTION 1. The sum of one hundred dollars ($100.00) in the money of the United States is hereby appropriated out of any funds in the insular treasury, not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of ing the salary of the property clerk in the department of education, for the period of one month from September 8 to October 8, 1900. SEC. 2. The Military Governor is authorized to draw his warrant in favor of the duly appointed property clerk for the amount designated in section first of this act, and the insular treasurer is directed to pay the same. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage. Enacted, September 12, 1900. [No. 5.] AN ACT for the establishment and maintenance of an efficient and honest civil service in the Philippine Islands. By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. The commission shall appoint three persons to be members of a board to be called the Philippine civil-service board. The Commission shall designate one of such persons as chairman, and another as secretary, and may in its discretion designate from among the members of the board a chief examiner. SEC. 2. No person shall be eligible for appointment as a member of the board unless he shall be a native of the Philippine Islands owing and acknowledging allegiance to the United States, or a citizen of the United States. SEC. 3. Each member of the board shall, during his incumbency reside in Manila, and shall receive an annual salary of three thousand dollars and his necessary traveling expenses while in the discharge of his official duties. In case the Commission shall designate a member of the board to act as chief examiner he shall receive in addition to his salary as a member of the board a further annual compensation of five hundred dollars. SEC. 4. The board shall prepare rules adapted to carry out the purpose of this act, which is hereby declared to be the establishment and maintenance of an efficient and honest civil service in all the executive branches of the government of the Philippine Islands, central, departmental and provincial, and of the city of Manila, by appointments and promotions according to merit and by competitive examinations where the same are practicable, and it shall be the duty of all officers in the Philippine civil service in the departments and offices to which any such rules may relate, to aid in all proper ways in carrying said rules and any modifications thereof into effect. SEC. 5. This act shall apply, except as hereinafter expressly provided, to all appointments of civilians to executive positions under(a) The military governor; (b) The United States Philippine Commission; (e) The treasurer for the islands; (d) The auditor for the islands; (e) The collector of customs for the islands; (f) The collector of inland revenue for the islands; (g) The director of posts for the islands; (h) The civil-service board; The bureau of forestry; (The bureau of mines; (k) The general superintendent of public instruction; (Wardens of penitentiaries and prisons; (m) The provost marshal-general of Manila; (n) The captain of the port at Manila. SEC. 6. The rules to be adopted by the board shall provide (a) For the classification of all offices and employments specified in section 5. (b) For the appointment for those offices requiring technical, professional, or scientific knowledge by competitive or noncompetitive examinations or otherwise, as the board shall determine. (c) For the selection of members of the police force and of the fire department in the city of Manila and of guards at prisons and penitentiaries by competitive or noncompetitive examination, or otherwise, as the board, after consultation with the Military Governor and his approval, shall determine. (d) For the selection of laborers, skilled and unskilled, according to the priority of their applications, by such noncompetitive examinations as may be practicable, and which need not, if the board shall so limit them, relate to more than the capacity of the applicants to labor, their habits of industry and sobriety, and their honesty. |