AN ACT TO AMEND AND REPEAL CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE CODE, REGULATE IN CERTAIN DETAILS THE FUNCTIONS AND APPOINTMENT OF REGISTERS OF DEEDS, FIX THEIR SALARIES, PROVIDE FOR THE PAYMENT OF THE REGISTRATION FEES INTO THE INSULAR TREASURY, APPROPRIATE FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

• Number: Act No. 3156
• Sections: 8

Section 1

SECTION 1. Section one hundred and ninety-two of Act Numbered Twenty-seven hundred and eleven, known as the Administrative Code, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 192. Office of register of deeds.—There shall be a register of deeds for the City of Manila and one for each of the several provinces except the Mountain Province. In the Mountain Province there shall be one register of deeds for the Mountain Province, whose jurisdiction shall extend to such parts of the province as are not contained in the Subprovince of Benguet, and for the Subprovince of Benguet there shall be a register of deeds whose jurisdiction shall extend throughout the Subprovince of Benguet, including the City of Baguio.

Section 2

SEC. 2. Section one hundred and ninety-three of the Administrative Code is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 193. General functions of register of deeds.—The office of register of deeds constitutes a public depository of records of documents affecting the title of land in the province.or city wherein such office is situated; and it is the duty of a register of deeds to record in proper form all instruments relative to such lands, the recording whereof shall be required or allowed by law.

"Except in the City of Manila, the register of deeds shall perform the functions of commercial register in all matters except the registration of vessels, under the supervision of the Director of the Bureau of Commerce and Industry. He shall also maintain a book of records of chattel mortgages and perform in respect to such instruments the duties prescribed in section one hundred and ninety-eight hereof.

"SEC. 193 (a). Annual reports.—Immediately after January first of each year, all registers of deeds shall send to the Chief of the General Land Registration Office annual reports the scope and form of which said chief shall prescribe, on the work performed in their respective offices during the preceding year."

Section 3

SEC. 3. Section two hundred and one of the Administrative Code, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 201. Discharge of duties of register in case of vacancy, etc.—Where no regular register of deeds shall have been appointed for any province, or in case of a vacancy in the office, or upon the occasion of the absence or disability of the register, the duties of register shall be performed by the following officials, without additional compensation, in the order in which they are mentioned below, until a regular register of deeds shall have been appointed and qualified, during the entire time of such absence or incapacity of the register:

" (a) For the City of Manila, by the Chief or Assistant chief of the General Land Registration Office.

" (b) For the subprovince of Benguet, by the City Treasurer or Deputy Treasurer of Baguio.

"(c) For provinces in general, by the provincial fiscal, provincial treasurer, or deputy provincial treasurer.

" (d) And when the needs of the service require it, by any other officer of the Government whom the Secretary of Justice may designate."

Section 4

SEC. 4. Section two hundred and two of the Administrative Code is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 202. Expenses of office of register.—The salary of the register of deeds and that of the subordinate personnel of his office and, in the absence of any special provision, the cost of all equipment and material, including books and stationery, and other necessary expenses for the proper operation of the office of a register of deeds, shall be paid out of the Insular funds appropriated for said purposes and shall be disbursed by the disbursing officer of the General Land Registration Office.

"SEC. 202 (a). Requisition of supplies for office of register.—All equipment and material, including books and stationery, required by the register of deeds, shall, in the absence of any special provision, be obtained through the Chief of the General Land Registration Office, who shall make the necessary requisition in accordance with the Supply Law.

"SEC. 202 (b). Payment of salaries of personnel and, furnishing of supplies by provincial treasurer.—The Chief of the General Land Registration Office may, when he considers it advisable for the service, direct the provincial treasurer in the provinces in general and the city treasurer of Baguio in the Subprovince of Benguet, to furnish to the office of the register of deeds all necessary office supplies and pay the salaries of the register and his employees. In such case, the Provincial Treasurer or City Treasurer of Baguio shall send to the Chief of the General Land Registration Office, at the end of each month, an account of the expenses so paid, for the reimbursement thereof.

"At the request of the register of deeds, the Chief of the General Land Registration Office may likewise order the necessary equipment, furniture, and non-expendable material for the office of such register furnished to the latter, at the expense of said General Land Registration Office.

"SEC. 202 (c). Disposition of furniture, equipment, etc., in office of register.—All equipment, furniture, books, and other non-expendable office material acquired for the office of a register of deeds or for a provincial fiscal or other. officer in his capacity as register of deeds, prior to the approval of this Act, shall become Insular property, under the custody of the register of deeds concerned, who shall be accountable for the same, in accordance with the provisions of the Accounting Law.

"SEC. 202 (d). Office room for register.—The province shall furnish a suitable place for the office of the register of deeds and shall, likewise, place at the disposal of such register of deeds a suitable vault of sufficient capacity to contain all important register books and documents, until a fireproof vault can be provided out of Insular funds.

"SEC. 202 (e). Disposition of fees.—All monies received and collected by the register of deeds as registration fees or for services rendered by the office of the register of deeds, shall be paid into the Insular Treasury."

Section 5 Appropriation of funds for office of register.

SEC. 5. Appropriation of funds for office of register.— The sum of two hundred thousand pesos, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the payment of salaries of the personnel and contingent expenses, including the purchase of the necessary furniture and equipment for the offices of the several registers of deeds, until December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, and any balance remaining unexpended after said date shall revert to the general funds in the Insular Treasury: Provided, That the plantilla of the personnel and the distribution of these funds shall be subject to previous approval by the Secretary of Justice.

Section 6 Repealing clause.

SEC. 6. Repealing clause.—Section one hundred and ninety-nine of the Administrative Code and all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

Section 7 Effective date.

SEC. 7. Effective date.—This Act shall take effect on its approval.

Approved, March 8, 1924.

Section 192 (a) Appointment of registers of deeds and subordinate personnel.

SEC. 192 (a) Appointment of registers of deeds and subordinate personnel.—The registers of deeds and the subordinate personnel of their offices shall, for administrative purposes, be under the General Land Registration Office. The registers of deeds shall be appointed by the Governor-General, with the consent of the Philippine Senate, and the subordinate employees of their offices shall be appointed by the Secretary of Justice, on nomination by the Chief of the General Land Registration Office.

"SEC. 192 (b). Salaries of registers of deeds.—The salary of the Register of Deeds of the City of Manila shall be five thousand pesos per annum ; that of the registers of deeds of the Provinces of Cebn, Iloilo, Occidental Negros, and Pangasinan, three thousand pesos per annum; that of the registers of deeds of the Provinces of Albay, Bulacan, Laguna, Leyte, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Rizal, Tarlac, Tayabas, and Zamboanga, twenty-four hundred pesos per annum; and that of the registers of deeds of the other provinces, including the Subprovince of Benguet, eighteen hundred pesos per annum.

"SEC. 192 (c). Qualifications of registers of deeds.—No person shall be appointed to the office of register of deeds unless he has been employed for over live years in some branch of the Government the functions of which include the registration of property or unless he is authorized to practice law in the Philippine Islands or is a graduate of a law school recognized by the Government. This qualification shall, however, not be required in the case of officers designated temporarily to perform the duties of register of deeds.

"SEC. 192 (d). Privileges of registers.—Registers of deeds shall be entitled to the benefits and privileges of classified employees.

"SEC. 192 (e). Transfer of employee to serve in another province.—When the public interest requires it, the Secretary of Justice, on recommendation of the Chief of the General Land Registration Office, may direct a register of deeds appointed for one province or any subordinate employee of the office of such register to go to another province for temporary service in the same."