SEC. 50. Every person eighteen or more years of age who owns property in the province, or who has within his control any owner of property in the province who is less than eighteen years of age, shall appear before the president of the township in which such property lies between the first and fifteenth days of January of ' each year, and shall declare the value of his property, and the value of that of any property owner less than eighteen years of age who is within his control: Provided. That if it shall be inconvenient or. impossible for him to appear before the president he shall makes a sworn declaration' in writing as to the value of such property, and shall cause this statement to be delivered to the president between the dates above fixed. His declaration shall be accepted as true, unless the provincial treasurer or some other resident of the province shall question its correctness and bring the matter to the attention of the provincial governor, in which case the provincial governor, the provincial treasurer, and the president of the township in which the property lies shall form a board of assessors to determine its value. This board shall be empowered to call and examine witnesses, and after giving the owner and his witnesses, if any. opportunity to be heard, shall fix the value of the property alleged to be incorrectly valued. Its decision shall be final.
SEC. 51. Any property owner who fails to declare the value off his property within the period fixed in section fifty, or that of the property of any resident of the province less than eighteen years of age within his control, shall immediately be warned by the councilor of his barrio that, unless he makes his declaration before the thirty-first day of January, he will be subject to a fine of five pesos, Philippine currency, and, should he fail to make the declaration within the period specified, the fine shall be adjudged against him by the court provided for in section eighteen, subsection (g), and shall be collected by the treasurer; or, in lieu of the payment , thereof, he shall be compelled to work it out on public works within the township at a rate-per day to be fixed for each township by the provincial board, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior first had. In the event of his not making his declaration before January thirty-first, the value of his property shall be fixed by the board of assessors provided for in section fifty.
SEC. 52. (a) Every resident of a township organized under t sections one to sixty, inclusive, of this Act, who is the owner of real or personal property to the value of more than two hundred pesos, Philippine currency, shall pay as an annual property tax an amount equal to one-half of one per centum of the value of such property.
(b) Every resident of the province who floes not own real or personal property to the value of two hundred pesos, Philippine currency, shall be excused from the payment of any property tax.
SEC. 53. There shall lie exempted from taxation burying grounds, churches and their adjacent parsonages or e.onventos, and lands and buildings used exclusively for religious, charitable., scientific, or educational purposes, and not for private profit : Provided, That such exemption shall not extend to lands or buildings held for investment, though the income therefrom lie devoted to religious, charitable, scientific, or educational purposes: lands, buildings, and improvements owned by the United Slates of America, the Government of the Philippine Islands, any departmental or provincial government in said Islands, or by the township.
SEC. 54. On the basis of the declaration made and of the findings of the board of assessors, if any, the secretary shall prepare, on or before February fifteenth of each year, a list of the persons from whom a property tax-is due, with the amount of such tax due from each of them. This list shall be kept open to public inspection in his office. All persons from whom a property tax is due shall be notified by the councilors of their respective barrios to appear before the secretary and learn the amount of such tax, which shall be stated to them verbally by the secretary, if they can not read.
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
