Section 12
SEC. 12. It shall be the duty of the provincial board— (a) To provide by construction or purchase or renting suitable offices for the provincial officers, and a court-house containing a room or rooms suitable 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. The provincial building shall first be used for the purpose of affording sufficient office room to all the provincial officers. If, after supplying this necessary office room, the building affords sufficient accommodation for the residence of the governor of the province, he may occupy the building for this purpose. The assignment of rooms for offices and the residence of the governor in the provincial building shall be made by the provincial board. (b) To furnish a suitable vault or safe to the provincial secretary-treasurer, in which he shall keep the provincial or other public funds as long as they are in his custody, except as hereinafter provided. (c) To order, in its discretion, the construction, repair, or maintenance of roads, bridges, or ferries within the province on the recommendation of the provincial supervisor, and to approve or reject contracts for such construction or repair, and the construction or repair of provincial buildings let by the provincial supervisor. No contract for construction of a road, bridge, or of a public building shall be entered into until the provincial secretary-treasurer shall certify that there is in the provincial treasury a sum sufficient to meet the estimated cost of the construction of the improvement which may be lawfully devoted to such purpose; and after such certificate shall be made and filed and the contract entered into, the provincial secretary-treasurer shall treat the sum thus certified as not subject to warrant except to me the obligations of the contract. All work or repair, construction, or equipment of roads or buildings involving a greater cost than five hundred dollars, in money of the United States, shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder, after ten days public notice of the letting by advertisement in a paper of general circulation in the province, or, if there is no such paper, by a notice posted for ten days at the main entrance to the supervisor's office in the capital of the province. If the provincial board shall magnitude, it may authorize the supervisor, in addition to giving the public notices above required, to advertise for bids in a newspaper published in the city of Manila. The supervisor is authorized to reject any or all bids, and if the bids are too high, he may recommend to the board that he be allowed to purchase the material and hire the labor and himself supervise the work, and the board may then authorize such a course. (d) To agree, upon the recommendation of the provincial supervisor, with the provincial board of any adjoining province, on the terms, within the limitations of law, upon which roads forming the boundary between the two provinces, and bridges or streams forming such boundary, shall be constructed, repaired, or maintained under the joint control of the two provincial governments. (e) To direct, in its discretion, the bringing or defense of suits on behalf of the provincial government of Nueva Vizcaya, and to compromise the same on the recommendation of the provincial fiscal and the approval of the judge of First Instance for the district. (f) To order the monthly payment of all salaries provided by law, and the payment of all lawfully contracted indebtedness, by directing the issue of warrants upon the provincial treasury. Every warrant shall be drawn by the governor and countersigned by the secretary-treasurer, and shall recite the cause and purpose of drawing the same, the date of the resolution authorizing it, and the page of the minutes of the board's proceedings on which it is recorded. Should the provincial secretary-treasurer deem any warrant drawn to be for an unlawful or unwarranted purpose, he may suspend payment and refer the question to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago, whose decision shall be mandatory upon him. (g) To authorize the provincial 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 secretary-treasurer until there shall be spread upon the minutes of the board a resolution reciting and approving the exact terms of the contract or deposit in the bank. The bank shall certify the weekly balances of provincial funds held by it to the provincial governor and to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago. (h) 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. (i) To provide for the appointment of subordinate employees by the various provincial officers, and to approve or disapprove their salaries; but such order of the board shall not have effect until notice thereof shall have been given to the Treasurer for the Philippine Archipelago and it shall receive his approval. (j) To adopt rules regulating the hours of employment of the subordinate in the various offices. (k) To provide an official seal for the province.