Section 2
SEC. 2. There is hereby created an Emergency Board which shall consist of the chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate, the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of Justice, the Insular Auditor, and the Secretary of Finance, with the latter as chairman. In the absence of the chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate or the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, the Senator or Representative designated by the President of the respective House shall act in his stead. The Chairman of the Emergency Board, with the approval of said Board, shall designate a Government employee to act as secretary of the Board, without additional compensation. Whenever application is made by any officer of the Government in charge of any work of construction or repair, or by the Director of any Bureau or Office of the Government, certifying that the needs of the work, Bureau, or Office concerned required the expenditure of a sum of money greater than the amount appropriated by the Legislature for such purpose, and if said application is recommended by the proper Department head, the Emergency Board shall investigate the facts set forth in such application, ascertain whether the applicant has taken the necessary measures to prevent the expenditure of a sum of money greater than that authorized by this Act, hear the evidence presented, and submit a report with its recommendations to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives who, upon recommendation of a majority of the Emergency Board aforesaid, may authorize, with the concurrence of the Governor-General, the expenditure of additional funds not specifically appropriated, in such amount as may be deemed necessary for the purposes of the work, Bureau or Office concerned: Provided, That no funds shall be set up on the books of the Auditor under this section until the same shall have been allotted by the presiding officers of both Houses, with the concurrence of the Governor-General. This Emergency Board shall enter upon the discharge of its functions immediately after the close of the session of the Philippine Legislature in which this Act was approved and shall exist until October sixteenth, nineteen hundred and eighteen. The Secretary of Finance, within the thirty days following the beginning of the next regular session of the Philippine Legislature, shall send to each House thereof a statement of the sum or sums and expenditures authorized under the provisions of this section.