SECTION 1. Section ten of Republic Act Numbered Four hundred nine, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows: "SEC. 10. Vice-Mayor.—There shall be a vice-mayor who shall perform the duties of the mayor in the event of the sickness, absence or other temporary incapacity of the mayor, or in the event of the definitive vacancy in the position of mayor, until said office shall be filled, in accordance with law. If, for any reason, the vice-mayor is temporarily incapacitated for the performance of the duties of the office of the mayor, or said office of the vice-mayor is vacant the duties of the mayor shall be performed by the president pro-tempore of the municipal board. The acting mayor shall have the same powers and duties as the mayor including the power to appoint, suspend or dismiss employees, and all acts performed by him in such capacity shall not be reversed, modified or otherwise revised by the mayor upon the latter's returns to office.
"The mayor shall be understood to be absent when he is on leave or is out of the country or, while within the country, he has been physically out of the city for more than forty-eight hours.
"The vice-mayor shall have the following general powers and duties:
"(a) He shall be the presiding officer of the Municipal Board.
"(b) He shall be the administrative head of the Municipal Board, shall appoint its officers and employees and shall have direct control and supervision over them and the board's equipment and properties.
"(c) He shall prepare and submit to the Board before the thirtieth day of April of each year a budget for expenditures of the Municipal Board which shall be incorporated to the city budget.
"(d) He shall have charge of disbursements of funds of the Board.
"(e) He shall give such information and recommend such measures to the Board and/or to the mayor as he shall deem advantageous to the city.
"(f) He shall take an active part in the city's fight against vice, immorality and criminality. For this purpose, the Board shall provide for the office of the vice-mayor a group of not less than twenty-four men who shall be appointed by the latter and who shall be under his direct supervision and control, at least eight of whom shall be lawyers, with yearly salaries of not less than seven thousand two hundred pesos, and at least sixteen of whom shall have all the qualifications and eligibility required for Manila patrolmen, and shall receive yearly salaries of not less than four thousand eight hundred pesos. The chief of police, upon the vice-mayor's request, shall assign on detail to the latter at least five men of the city police or detective force. The vice-mayor and his above group shall be peace officers and shall exercise the powers and duties provided in Section thirty-seven of this Act.
"(g) He shall perform such other duties as may be assigned to him by the mayor or prescribed by law or ordinance.
"The vice-mayor shall be elected in the same manner as the mayor and shall at the time of his election possess the same qualifications as the mayor. He shall receive a salary of eighteen thousand pesos a year and shall have a secretary and at least twenty personnel in his regular office force who shall all be chosen and appointed by him. The Municipal Board shall provide for the vice-mayor a commutable housing allowance of not less than six thousand pesos per annum."