AN ACT AMENDING CHAPTER ONE OF ACT NUMBERED NINE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX BY PROVIDING THAT PAYMENT .OF HOMESTEAD ENTRY FEES MAY BE MADE IN INSTALLMENTS, AND BY LIMITING THE RESIDENCE REQUIRED BY SAID CHAPTER TO THE LAST TWO YEARS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE OF FINAL PROOF.

• Sections: 4

Section 1

SECTION 1. Section two of Act Numbered Nine hundred and twenty-six is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following:

"Provided, however, That at the option of the applicant, payment of the fee prescribed in section three hereof may he made in five annual installments of four pesos each. These payments may be made to the municipal treasurer of the locality, turn, shall forward to the provincial treasurer the amounts on this account. In case of the delinquency of the applicant in the payment of any said installments, thirty days after having become delinquent, he shall lose ipso facto his rights to the land in question, shall not be entitled to the reimbursement of the installments which he may have paid, and the land shall become vacant and open to entry by another."

Section 2

SEC. 2. Section three of Act Numbered Nine hundred and twenty-six is herein- amended by inserting after the words "that he has resided upon' the following: "the land for the last two years immidiately preceding the day of such proof," and after the words Philippine currency," the following: "or upon the payment of the last of the five installments provided for in section two," so that it shall read as follows:

"SEC 3. No certificate shall be given or patent issued for the certificate and applied for until the expiration of five years from the date of the filing of the application; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any time within three years thereafter, if person filing Proof of residence, guest application shall prove by two credible witnesses that he has cultivate, etc. resided upon the land for the last two years immediately preceding the day of such proof, and cultivated the land for the term of five years immediately succeeding the time of tiling the application aforesaid, and shall make affidavit that no part of said land has been alienated or encumbered, and that he has borne true allegiance to the Government of the United States and that of the Philippine Fee for issue of Islands, then, upon payment of a fee of ten pesos, Philippine patent currency, or upon the payment of the last of the five installments provided for in section two to such officer as may be designated by law as local land officer, or in case there be no such officer then to the Director of Lands, he shall be entitled to a patent: Provided, Death of applicant, however, That in the event of the death of an applicant prior to widow the issuance of a patent, his widow shall be entitled to have a patent for the land applied for issue to her upon showing that she has consummated the requirements of law for homesteading the lands as above set out; and in case the applicant dies before the Legal represents issuance of the patent and does not leave a widow, then the interest of the applicant in the land shall descend and patent shall issue to the persons who under the laws of the Philippine Islands would have taken, bad the title been perfected by patent before the death of the applicant, upon proof, by the persons thus entitled, of compliance with said requirements and conditions."

Section 3

SEC. 3. Section five of Act Numbered Nine hundred and twenty-six is hereby amended by substituting the word "two" for the word "five," so that it shall read as follows:

"SEC. 5. If at any time after the filing of the application as hereinabove provided and before the expiration of the period allowed by law for the making of final proof, it is proved to the satisfaction of the Director of Lands, after due notice to the homesteader, that the land entered is not under the law subject to homestead entry, or that the homesteader has actually changed his residence, voluntarily abandoned the land for more than six months at any one time during the two years of residence herein required, or has otherwise failed to comply with the requirements of law, then in that event the Director of Lands may cancel the entry, subject to appeal under proper regulations to the Secretary of the Interior, and the land thereupon shall become subject to disposition as other public lands of like character."

Section 4

SEC. 4. When this Act shall have been approved and sanctioned in accordance with section thirteen of the Act of Congress approved July first, nineteen hundred and two, entitled "An Act temporarily to provide for the administration of the affairs of civil government in the Philippine Islands, and for other purposes," such facts shall be made known by proclamation of the Governor-General of the Islands, and this Act shall take effect on the date of such proclamation.

Enacted, June 18, 1908.