Article XII of chapter sixty of the same Act is also amended, to read as follows: "ARTICLE XII.
Section 10
SEC. 10. Article XII of chapter sixty of the same Act is also amended, to read as follows: "ARTICLE XII.—Special assessments for public improvements. "SEC. 2507. Power to levy special assessments for certain purposes.—The Municipal Board may, by ordinance duly approved, provide for the levying and collection, by special assessments of the real estate comprised within the district or section of the city especially benefited, of a part not to exceed sixty per centum of the cost of laying out, opening, constructing, straightening, widening, extending, grading, paving, curbing, walling, deepening, or otherwise establishing, repairing, enlarging, or improving public avenues, roads, streets, alleys, sidewalks, parks, plazas, bridges, landing places, wharves, piers, docks, levees, reservoirs, waterworks, water mains, water courses, esteros, canals, drains, and sewers, including the cost of acquiring the necessary land. Within the meaning of this article, all real estate comprised within the district benefited, except lands or buildings owned by the United States of America, the Government of the Philippine Islands, or the city of Manila, shall be subject to the payment of the special assessment, based upon the valuation of such real estate as shown by the books of the city assessor and collector, or its present value as fixed by said officer in the first instance if the property does not appear of record in his books according to the valuation whereof the special tax has to be made, computed, and assessed. "SEC. 2508. Contents of a special assessment ordinance.— The ordinance providing for the levying and collection of a special assessment shall describe in terms of reasonable accuracy the nature, extent, and location of the proposed improvement; the probable cost of the improvement; the rate per centum of the cost to be defrayed by special assessment; the district which shall be subject to the payment of the said rate per centum of the proposed improvement, delimiting the same by metes and bounds, and the number of annual installments, which shall not be less than five, in which such special assessment shall be paid without any interest. The Municipal Board shall not be required to fix one uniform rate per centum for all the taxable real estate in the entire district, but may fix different rates for real estate in different parts or sections of the same, according as said property will derive greater or less benefit from the contemplated improvement. "SEC. 2509. Publication of the proposed special assessment' ordinance, and public hearing on the same.—The proposed special assessment ordinance shall be published for the period of one week in two daily newspapers published in the city, one in the English and one in the Spanish language, before its adoption by the Board. The secretary of the Municipal Board shall, upon request, furnish a copy of the proposed ordinance free of charge to each owner affected or his agent, and shall in so far as possible send each of them a copy of said proposed ordinance, by ordinary mail or otherwise. At the request of any owner, made within three days from the last publication of the proposed ordinance, or at its own motion, the Board or the committee thereof in charge of the project shall hold a public hearing on the same and hear all pertinent arguments and evidence offered by the persons interested or their attorneys, and such arguments and evidence shall be attached to the record of the project. "SEC. 2510. Transmitted of the ordinance and papers in connection therewith to the Mayor.—The special assessment ordinance shall be sent to the Mayor for approval as in other cases, but upon forwarding the proposed ordinance passed by the Board, all papers pertaining to the same shall also be transmitted to the Mayor, and the time for the approval or vetoing thereof shall run only from the date of the receipt of the last paper lacking. The Mayor may consider the protest of the persons claiming to be affected if signed by a majority of said persons representing more than one-half of the total assessed value of the property which, according to the proposed ordinance, would be subject to the special assessment, and before approving or vetoing said ordinance, he may propose to the Municipal Board such amendment or amendments to the same as he may see fit. "SEC. 2511. Assessment of the special tax against the real estate affected.—Upon the approval of the special assessment ordinance, the city assessor and collector shall forthwith proceed to determine the special tax payable by each realty each year during the period fixed in the ordinance, upon the basis of the estimated cost of the work and the total and parcel value of the real estate comprised within the district especially benefited, and shall notify each owner by ordinary mail of the special tax assessed against each property owned by him in the district benefited; but if upon the completion of the improvement, it should appear that the cost has been less or more, the city engineer shall forthwith certify this fact to the assessor and collector, who shall thereupon proceed to rectify the assessment, reducing or increasing, as the case may be, the special tax upon each property affected for the unpaid remainder of the annual installments, or, if all are paid, fixing the amount to be credited to or the special additional tax to be collected from the realty, as the case may be, and shall notify the persons interested of such rectifications. "SEC. 2512. Appeal to the Board of Tax Appeals.—Any owner considering himself aggrieved by any decision of the city assessor and collector, may appeal from the same to the Board of Tax Appeals within the same time and in the same manner as prescribed by law for cases of assessment and valuation of real estate for the ordinary tax. "SEC. 2513. Payment of the special assessments.—All sums and amounts due from any owner or owners as a' result of any action taken by virtue of the authority conferred in this article shall be due and payable to the city assessor and collector in the same manner as the annual tax levied on real estate under the provisions of the last preceding article hereof, and shall be subject to the same penalties for delinquency, and enforceable by the same remedies, as such annual tax; and all such sums and amounts, together with any such penalties incurred, shall from the date on which they were assessed constitute liens on the property against which the same were assessed and shall take precedence over any and all other liens which may exist upon such property excepting only such as may have attached as a result of the nonpayment of said annual tax."