Duties and powers of the provincial board.
Section 30
SEC. 30. Duties and powers of the provincial board.—It shall be the duty and within the power of the provincial board: (a) Appropriations.—To appropriate moneys from any of its funds, except those the use of which is otherwise specifically fixed by law, for other purposes having in view the general welfare of the province and its inhabitants. (b) Tax levy, distribution.—To levy in its discretion upon the real estate of the province for provincial purposes an annual tax within the limitations prescribed by law. (c) Provincial offices.—To provide by construction, purchase, or renting suitable offices for the provincial officers, and a courthouse containing a room or rooms suitable, in the opinion of the department governor, for the holding of court and for offices for the court officers, and a provincial jail in the municipality fixed by law as the capital of the province. (d) Vault or safe.—To furnish a suitable vault or safe to the provincial secretary-treasurer, in which he shall keep the provincial and other public funds as long as they are rn his custody, except as hereinafter provided. (e) Provincial building.—To assign rooms for offices in -provincial building, the provincial building. (f) Roads, bridges, and so forth.—To order, in its discretion, the construction, repair, or maintenance of roads, bridges, and ferries within its control, and to approve or reject contracts for such construction and repair, and the construction and repair of provincial buildings rented by the provincial secretary-treasurer, subject to the approval of the senior supervising engineer. (g) Boundary roads, bridges, and so forth.—To agree upon the recommendation of the senior supervising engineer with the provincial board of an adjoining province on the terms within the limitations of law, upon which roads forming the boundary between the two provinces, and bridges and ferries crossing streams forming such boundary, shall be constructed, repaired, or maintained under the joint control of the two provincial governments. In the event of failure of the two interested provinces to agree, the controversy shall be decided by the department governor, whose decision shall be final. (h) Suits on behalf of the province.—To direct, subject to the approval of the department governor as provided in section eight (k) hereof, the bringing or defense of suits on behalf of the provincial government and to compromise the same upon the recommendation of the provincial fiscal. (i) Payment of salaries, debts, and so forth.—To order the monthly payment of all salaries provided by law and the payment of all lawfully contracted indebtedness, in accordance with such rules and regulations as the department treasurer may prescribe. The provincial board of every province composed in part of a subprovince is authorized, subject to the approval of the department governor, to fix or change by resolution the salaries of the lieutenant or deputy governors of such subprovince. (j) Cart and sledge tax.—To provide in its discretion, a tax on carts and sledges for the protection of improved roads, subject to the approval of the department governor. (k) Deposit of provincial funds.—To authorize the proprovincial funds, secretary-treasurer to deposit so much of the provincial funds as may not be needed in the near future for public use in a bank of deposit of approved standing in the Islands. All interest paid on such deposit shall inure to the benefit of the provincial treasury, and no funds shall be deposited in the bank by the treasurer until there shall be spread upon the minutes of the board a resolution reciting and approving the exact terms of the contract of deposit in the bank. The bank shall certify the monthly balances of provincial funds held by it to the provincial governor and to the department treasurer: Provided, That the provincial treasurer of any province organized under this Act, shall deposit his surplus provincial funds with the department treasurer whenever the department treasury shall be designated as the depository for the provincial funds of the province by the department treasurer. (I) Meetings.—To hold regular weekly meetings upon a day to be fixed by the board, and special meetings upon, the call of the governor. The meetings of the board shall be open to the public. (m) Agricultural pests.—To adopt, by resolution, regulations for the suppression of any agricultural pest like locusts or cattle disease, to post the same in five conspicuous places in each pueblo, to provide for enforcement of same by fixing penalty for their violation not exceeding two hundred pesos fine or thirty clays' imprisonment, and to appropriate from the provincial treasury the necessary expenses in organizing the temporary force of employees needed to enforce regulations and in paying costs of prosecutions before justices of the peace. (n) Hours of labor.—To adopt rules regulating the hours of employment of the subordinates in the various provincial offices, subject to the approval of the administrative council. (o) Provincial seal.—To provide a seal for the province. (p) School buildings, construction, and so forth.—To provide, if deemed expedient by the provincial board, by construction, purchase, or renting, such school building or buildings in the province as in the opinion of the board may be necessary, to be used for the free secondary instruction of pupils resident in the province, such secondary instruction being understood to include, in addition to academic and commercial subjects, manual training, instruction in agriculture, and normal-school instruction, and to provide for the payment of all expenses of maintaining such public school or schools of secondary instruction as may be established in the province, and the schools in their establishment and conduct shall be subject to the general supervision and control of the superintendent of schools in accordance with the provisions of section fifteen hereof: Provided, That temporarily and until such time as the department governor shall decide that the condition of finances of the province will justify for the future the payment of the salaries of teachers and the expense of supplies and equipment for secondary schools from the provincial treasury, such salaries and expense may be borne by the department: Provided further, That if for any reason a province is not prepared to establish a secondary or high school, the provincial board of such province may provide from the provincial funds for the payment of the tuition, in a high school in any other province or in the city of Manila, of such pupils as may wish to enter such high school and are declared by the proper school authorities to be especially fitted and qualified to receive secondary instruction. (q) Allowance for students under certain conditions.— To appropriate from the general funds of the province, not otherwise appropriated, the amount necessary for one or two permanent allowances at a rate of not exceeding forty pesos a month each for one or two students in the University of the Philippines or in any governmental educational institution beyond the limits of the province, for such purposes and under such conditions as are prescribed in Act Numbered Twenty-one hundred forty-six. (r) Loans to municipalities.—To appropriate, in its discretion, moneys from any of its funds in excess of all just debts and liabilities falling due within the fiscal year, except . those funds the use of which is otherwise specifically fixed by law, for loans to municipalities or districts of the province under such conditions as to the use of the funds loaned and as to the repayment of the loans with interest at three per centum per annum as may be fixed by the provincial board. (s) Employees injured in line of duty.—To provide, injured its discretion, for the payment from provincial funds of m their regular compensation during the period of their disability, not exceeding ninety days, to unclassified employees of the provincial government, including laborers, when said employees or laborers are injured in the line of duty, the necessary expenses of medical attendance, transportation, and hospital fees for such injured employees or laborers, and in case of their death from said injuries, their reasonable burial expenses and a donation in money to the family of the deceased employee or laborer in a sum not exceeding ninety days' pay. (t) Salaries in municipal capitals.—To authorize municipal councils of the capitals of provinces and subprovinces to fix the salaries of the municipal officers of said capitals at an amount higher than that authorized in the scale established in chapter three hereof according to the class of the municipality, and to exempt capitals of provinces from compliance with any provision of law which restricts the power of a municipal council in the free disposition of their own funds. (u) Land and cedula tax, extension of payment.—To extend by resolution, whenever in its judgment the public interest requires, the time for the payment of the land tax or cedula personal tax without penalty, for a period not exceeding six months. (v) Remission of land tax.—To remit, by a resolution, by reason of general failure of crops or for other good and sufficient cause, the collection of the land tax in the province in whole or in part for a period not exceeding one year at a time: Provided, That the department governor, in his discretion, may of his own motion remit the collection of the land tax in any of the provinces organized under this Act in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (i) of section eight hereof. (w) Increased cedula tax.—To provide by resolution, in its discretion, for the increased cedula tax, and said resolution shall be and remain in force and effect during the year of its adoption and also subsequent years without further action by the board until repealed by another resolution of said board, and perform such other duties regarding the cedula tax as are imposed on the legislative council of the department by Act Numbered Twenty-three hundred and ninety-six, and subject to the conditions and provisions thereof (x) Approval by department governor.—No appropriation or resolution made pursuant to the provisions of subsections (q), (r), (s), (t), (u), (v), and (w) preceding shall be valid or take effect until it shall have been approved by the department governor, or unless and until thirty days after receipt of notice thereof by the department governor shall have passed without the disapproval of the department governor having been given. (y) Offices and equipment for certain officers.—To provide and equip by construction, purchase, or renting suitable offices for the following officers, in addition to such provincial officers herein expressly provided, to wit, district auditor, division superintendent of schools, and observer for the Weather Bureau, and such other officers as may be authorized to render service in connection with the provincial governments herein established. (z) Surveys and examinations.—To order, in its discretion, the execution by the senior supervising engineer at provincial expense of such minor surveys and examinations as may be necessary to determine the advisability of making public improvements, either by the provincial government, the department, or the Insular Government, within the jurisdiction of the province: Provided, That no survey or examination costing more than five hundred pesos Philippine currency shall be commenced without the previous approval of the department governor. (aa) Provincial pound.—To provide a provincial pound for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of Act Numbered Eight hundred and seventy-seven.