Section 1
SECTION 1. Sections three hundred and ninety-three, three hundred and ninety-seven, four hundred and three, four hundred and four, four hundred and five, four hundred and ten, four hundred and fourteen, four hundred and seventeen, four hundred and twenty-five, four hundred and twenty-seven, four hundred and twenty-eight, four hundred and thirty-one, four hundred and thirty-two, four hundred and thirty-seven, four hundred and forty-two, four hundred and fifty-two, four hundred and fifty-five, four hundred and sixty-nine, four hundred and seventy, four hundred and seventy-five, four hundred and seventy-six, two thousand and seventy-one, two thousand and seventy-four, two thousand one hundred and seventy-seven, twenty-four hundred and forty, twenty-six hundred and five, twenty-six hundred and thirty-seven, twenty-six hundred and forty-five, and twenty-six hundred and sixty and one-half, of the Administrative Code, as amended, are hereby further amended to read, respectively, as follows: "SEC. 393. Dates for regular elections for, and induction into, provincial, city and municipal offices.— (a) A regular election shall be held on the second Tuesday in December, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven and upon the same day every three years thereafter, to elect the officers who are to occupy all elective provincial, city, and municipal offices throughout the Philippines. "(b) The officers elected in a regular election shall assume office on the first day of January of the next following year." "SEC. 397. Expenses of elections.— (a) The expenses of an election shall be paid in full in each city or municipality by the municipal treasurer concerned and shall be charged to the branch of the government for which the election was held. In case of a simultaneous election for two or more branches of the government, the cost shall be paid in equal parts by the respective treasuries. "(b) The expenses incident to the holding of the first election in a new municipality shall be advanced, so far as necessary for the proper conduct of the election, by the province, and such advance shall be afterwards reimbursed by the municipality benefited." "SEC. 403. Limitation upon reelection.—A third consecutive reelection to the offices of provincial governor and mayor shall be prohibited after the regular election of nineteen hundred and thirty-seven." "SEC. 404. Certificate of candidacy.— (a) No person shall be eligible for any elective office unless, within the time fixed by law, he shall file a duly sworn certificate of candidacy. Nor shall any person be eligible for more than one office to be filled at the same election, and if he files certificates of candidacy for more than one office, the same shall all be null and void. "(b) Said certificate shall declare that the person concerned announces his candidacy for the office mentioned therein; that he is a resident of the province, city or municipality in which his candidacy is offered; and that he is eligible to the office. The certificate shall also state the name of the political party to which the candidate belongs, if any, the post-office address of said candidate for all electoral purposes, and a statement that his expense budget for the electoral campaign will not exceed one-third of the total emoluments attached to the office for the term of the same. "(c) In case there are two or more candidates for the same elective office who have the same name and surname, each shall state in his certificate of candidacy, in addition to his name, his paternal and maternal surnames, with the exception of any one of them who has at any time been elected to any elective office, who may continue using the name and surname set forth in his previous certificate of candidacy. "(d) Certificates of candidacy shall not contain more than one nickname of the candidate. "(e) Any candidate who, in any action or contest to which he may have been a party, shall have been convicted, by final judgment of a competent court, of having incurred greater expenses in an electoral campaign than those above stated, shall be disqualified to continue to be a candidate or, if elected, to fill the office." "SEC. 405. Filing and distribution of certificates of candidacy.— (a) Certificates of candidacy for national offices shall be filed not less than thirty days before the day set for the election with the Secretary of the Interior, who shall immediately send certified copies thereof to the Secretary of the National Assembly and to the secretary of the provincial board of the province where the elections are to be held, which latter official shall immediately forward certified copies to all polling places. The Secretary of the Interior shall communicate the names of said candidates to the secretary of the provincial board by telegraph, if there be any. If the certificate of candidacy is mailed, it shall be sent by registered mail, and the date on which the envelope was mailed in the post office of origin may be considered as the filing date thereof if confirmed by a telegram addressed to the Secretary of the Interior on the same date. "(b) Certificates of candidacy for provincial offices shall be filed not less than twenty days before the day of the election with the secretary of the provincial board of the province concerned, who shall immediately send certified copies thereof to all polling places of the province and to the Secretary of the Interior. "(c) Certificates of candidacy for city and municipal offices shall be filed not less than twenty days before the day of the election with the secretary of the municipal board of the city or the municipal secretary, as the case may be, who shall immediately send certified copies thereof to the polling places concerned and to the Secretary of the Interior. "(d) It shall be the ministerial duty of the Secretary of the Interior, the secretary of the provincial board, the secretary of the municipal board, and the municipal secretary, as the case may be, to receive any certificate of candidacy for national, provincial, city, and municipal office, respectively, and to acknowledge receipt thereof immediately. "(e) In case of the death or disqualification of a candidate whose certificate of candidacy has been duly filed, after expiration of the time limits above established, any legally qualified citizen may file with the secretary of the provincial board, the secretary of the municipal board, or the municipal secretary, without distinction, not later than the noon hour on the day of the election, his own certificate of candidacy for the office for which the deceased or disqualified person was a candidate, and in the event of the death or disqualification occurring on the day before the election or before the noon hour on the day of the election, said certificate may be filed with any board of inspectors of the municipality where he resides. "(f) Any person holding any appointive public office or position shall automatically cease to hold the same on the date of filing his certificate of candidacy." "SEC. 410. Arrangement of election 'precincts.— (a) The election precincts shall be so arranged that no precinct shall have more than four hundred voters, and each shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous and compact territory. "(b) When it appears that an election precinct contains; more than four hundred voters, the municipal council shall make such adjustment or new division as may be necessary. "(c) When a municipality has been merged into another, it shall constitute at least one election precinct, if the distance between the remotest barrio of the merged municipality and the nearest polling place of the municipality to which it is annexed shall, by the shortest road, exceed five miles." "SEC. 414. (a) Designation of polling places.—At least; seventy days before each regular election the municipal board or council of the city or municipality in which such election is to be held shall designate in each election precinct a place, as centrally located with respect to the residences of the voters as is practicable, where the meetings of the board of inspectors for registration and the election shall be held. Each place so designated shall, if practicable, be a room upon the lower floor, of sufficient size to admit and comfortably accommodate twenty electors at one time outside the guard rails. But no building shall be selected when it is so constructed that the interior of the voting booths placed in its lower story can be seen from one of its upper stories or from any part of it. No liquors shall be sold, served, or drunk or cockfights held in any building so designated from the time of designation until the day after election. If for any cause a place so designated shall thereafter and before election be destroyed or for any cause, cannot be used, the municipal board or council shall forthwith meet and designate another. No more than one polling place shall be in the same room. "(b) Portable polling places.—Whenever a municipal council shall be unable to procure suitable places, or whenever it shall be more economical so to do, such council may provide temporary or portable structures adequate to the purpose. Such structures may be erected in any public street or plaza, but not so as to block traffic thereon. • "(c) Buildings that shall not be used as polling places.— No building owned or inhabited by any person who is a candidate for any office for which votes are to be cast in any election precinct shall be used as a polling place for that precinct, nor shall any polling place be located or established at places under the control of any private society or corporation, unless in such places there is no properly constructed and established road and they are over six kilometers distant from the poblacion or nearest barrio. "(d) Changes of polling places.—After a polling place has been designated, its location shall not be changed until the next regular election, unless it is ordered otherwise by competent authority. "(e) Furnishing ballot boxes, office supplies, and materials for election.—The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare and furnish all office supplies, ballot boxes, and other materials necessary for the registration and holding of the election. "(f) Construction, inscriptions, and keys of ballot boxes.—The ballot boxes shall be uniform throughout the Philippines and shall be solidly constructed in such manner that they cannot be opened except by means of three different keys, and one of said keys shall during the voting and the counting of the votes be in the hands of each inspector, and immediately upon the completion of the count, the keys shall be placed in separate envelopes sealed and signed by the watchers present and by each inspector, and it shall be the duty of the provincial commander, or his authorized representative, immediately to take charge of said envelopes and to retain one of them In his custody, and deliver one to the provincial treasurer and the other to the clerk of the court of first instance, which officers shall keep them for a period of six months., unless sooner demanded by the proper courts, and shall at the expiration of such period return them to the provincial treasurer who shall keep them until the next election. The box for valid ballots shall be white and shall bear the following inscription in large legible letters: Box for valid ballots; and the box for spoiled ballots, which shall be much smaller than the other, shall be read and shall bear the following inscription in large legible letters: Box for spoiled ballots. "(g) Signs and flags on polling places.—The place set aside for a polling place shall have in front a sign showing the precinct to which it belongs, and on days of meeting of the board of inspectors the official flags of the Government shall be hoisted at the proper height. "(h) Direct supervision of elections.—The Secretary of the Interior shall see particularly that the local authorities perform faithfully and impartially the ministerial duties assigned to them by this Act, and may for this purpose apply for the aid of the services of the Solicitor-General, and designate as his deputies the provincial fiscals and other officers or agents of the law that may be necessary to secure an orderly, free, and honest election." "SEC. 417. Appointment of inspectors and poll clerks.— (a) It shall be the duty of the board or council in each city or municipality wherein a regular election is to be held, to appoint, seventy days immediately priqr to the date of such election, a board of election inspectors composed of three inspectors and a poll clerk, with their respective substitutes, for each election precinct therein, who shall hold office for three years or until their successors shall have taken charge of the same. "(b) The date of the meeting for the appointment of inspectors shall be published at least fifteen days in advance of such meeting, in the local press or by the town crier and other means of publication, and shall be communicated by registered mail to the representatives of each party in the locality or, in the absence of local representatives, to the representatives of each party in the province. "(c) Two of the inspectors and the poll clerk, and their substitutes, shall belong to the party which polled the largest number of votes in the city, municipality or municipal district at the next preceding election, and the other inspector and his substitute shall belong to the party which polled the next largest number of votes at said election. In computing the number of votes polled by each party for the appointment of inspectors for a regular election of provincial and city or municipal officers, the votes polled by all the candidates for said offices belonging to said party according to their certificates of candidacy shall be counted, and in the case of the appointment of inspectors for a regular election for President or Vice-President of the Philippines and Members of the National Assembly, or only the latter, the votes polled by the candidates for the offices to be filled belonging to the party concerned according to their certificates of candidacy shall be counted for the purposes of said computation. "(d) In case the parties which polled the largest and next largest number of votes at the next preceding election present only one candidate for each office to be voted for in the city or municipality, the other inspector shall belong to the same party as the opposing candidates, and if there be more than one opposing party presenting candidates, said inspector shall belong to the party first organized in the locality. "(e) An inspector shall not be granted to any branch or fraction which has seceded since the general election of nineteen hundred and thirty-four or may hereafter secede from its respective party, or from the party resulting from their merger. "(f) The election inspectors and poll clerks and their respective substitutes shall be persons proposed by the authorized representatives of the national directorates of the parties. The representatives of the parties in the municipality or province, as the case may be, shall communicate in writing, at least three clays before the meeting for the appointment of inspectors is held, the names, surnames, and post-office addresses of the persons who are to act as their representatives in the designation of the election inspectors. "(g) An election inspector or poll clerk may be replaced at any time at the request of the party which proposed his appointment, and if there is no time to hold a meeting of the municipal board or council for said purpose, or such board or council fails to act or come to an agreement, the duties of the office of inspector or poll clerk, as the case may be, shall be performed by the substitute or, in his absence, by the person designated by the party concerned. "(h) A 'political party' or simply 'party' is an organized group of persons who pursue the same political ideals in a government, and includes its branches and fractions. "(i) In case of a vacancy in the office of election inspector or poll clerk, the same shall be filled for the remainder of the term as above provided. "(j) With the exception of the notaries public, no person who holds any public office, or is a candidate for any public office, shall be eligible for appointment as inspector or poll clerk. "(k) No person convicted of a violation of the Election Law or against whom an information for such a violation is pending shall be appointed election inspector or poll clerk, nor shall a person continue in said office if after his appointment an information has been filed against him for the violation of said law. In the latter case, the position shall be immediately taken by the substitute and the municipal board or council shall proceed as soon as possible to appoint the successor of the disqualified person, and said successor shall necessarily belong to the party of his predecessor, and once appointed, he shall assume office and the substitute shall cease. "(l) A councilor failing to attend a meeting of the municipal council called for the purpose of complying with the order of any court concerning the appointment of election inspectors or poll clerk, shall be immediately suspended and replaced temporarily by a person belonging to the same party as the suspended councilor." "SEC. 425. Permanent list of voters every twelve years; registration necessary to be able to vote.— (a) In each municipality a permanent list of voters shall be prepared for the regular election for provincial, city and municipal offices of December, 1937, and shall be completely renewed every twelve years thereafter. All former lists of voters are hereby cancelled. "(b) The treasurer of each city or municipality shall publish and post in conspicuous places in each election precinct, as soon as possible after the regular election in December, 1937, the permanent list of voters used at said election, classified by election precincts, and, one month before each regular or special election, a supplement showing the eliminations, additions and other changes made in the meantime. "(c) No person shall vote at a regular or special election whose name is not contained in the list of voters." "SEC. 427. (a) Meetings for the preparation or revision of the permanent list of voters.—In 1937 and in each year when the permanent list of voters is prepared, the board of inspectors of each election precinct in which an election is to be held shall hold four meetings for the registration of voters in the new permanent list of voters, at the place designated as polling place, on the eighth Friday, the eighth Saturday, the seventh Friday and the seventh Saturday next before election day. In other regular election years, the board of inspectors shall meet only on the eighth Saturday and seventh Saturday before the election, for the registration of new voters in the permanent list of voters and the cancellation and correction of registrations, as may be proper. Said inspectors shall also meet on the second Saturday next before the election for the purpose of correcting said revised list, by adding names thereto or striking names therefrom in accordance with the orders of the competent authorities, as hereinafter provided, and to number and complete the list. "(b) Hours of meetings.—Every meeting shall begin at seven o'clock in the morning and continue until seven o'clock in the evening, with not more than one intermission of one hour and a half. If upon the stroke of seven o'clock in the evening on any of the days mentioned in the preceding paragraph there still remain persons who desire to be registered, the election inspectors shall make a list of those present at said hour within a radius of thirty meters from the polling place and shall hand each of them a consecutively numbered card signed by an inspector, and upon presentation of said card, their registration shall be permitted after seven o'clock in the evening. "(c) Voter's affidavit.—Any applicant for registration in the list of voters shall file with the board of inspectors at any of its meetings on the days above referred to, in triplicate, a signed affidavit duly made before any member of said board, with the imprint of the thumb of the right hand of the applicant affixed thereto, setting forth his name and surname, citizenship, birthplace, age on last birthday, whether married or single, profession, occupation or trade, residence, stating his exact and correct address, time of residence in the Philippines and in the municipality on the date of the affidavit; that he can read and write, and that he has none of the legal disqualifications for being a voter. "(d) Identification of voters.—Male voters may be identified by producing their personal cedulas for the year of the election or, in the absence thereof, for the next preceding year. Males not producing cedillas and women voters may be identified by producing their birth certificate or baptismal certificate or by means of an affidavit by the applicant which may be made before an election inspector of the respective election precinct or before a notary public, without the requisite of producing a cedula. Said affidavit shall be provided with the required documentary stamp. "(e) Custody and filing of voters' affidavits.—A copy of each voter's affidavit shall be retained by the board of inspectors until after the election, when it shall be delivered to the municipal treasurer, together with the other election papers, and another shall be sent by the board on the day after it has been filed, to the office of the register of deeds. The register of deeds shall arrange the voters' affidavits by municipalities, in the alphabetical order of their surnames, and shall keep the same. The third copy shall be handed to the voter, with a certificate of registration in the list of voters. "(f) Reregistration in list.—Voters registered in the permanent list of voters of a municipality need not reregister therein until the new permanent list of voters is prepared, unless they change their residence to another municipality, in which case they must register in the permanent list of voters of their new residence, after first applying for the cancellation of the registration in the former residence." "SEC. 428. (a) Mode of registration.—The inspectors of each election precinct shall prepare at their meetings prescribed in the preceding section a list of the names of the persons qualified to vote in said precinct at such election. Said list shall contain the names of all persons whose affidavits for registration filed with the board of inspectors as provided in the next preceding section have not been challenged, or if challenged, have been decided by the board in the sense that the applicants are qualified to vote. From this decision of the board, an appeal shall lie to the competent court. Except in years when a new list of voters is prepared, said list shall also contain the names of persons registered in the current permanent list of voters against whom the board has not found good grounds for a challenge or whose case, if challenged, has been finally decided in their favor. The said list, upon completion, shall be the revised list of voters of the precinct for said election. The body of the lists of voters of the election precincts of a municipality shall form the permanent list of voters of the same. "(b) Columns of list of voters.—The list of voters shall be arranged in columns. In the first column there shall be entered, at the time of the completion of the registry, a number, opposite the name of each person registered, beginning with one and continuing in consecutive order to the end of the list. In the second column shall be placed the surnames used generally by such persons, in alphabetical order; m the third column, the respective Christian names of such persons; in the fourth column, the respective residences of such persons by street and number, or, if there be none, by a brief description of the locality thereof; in the fifth column, there shall be inserted on the day of the election, the number of the ballot given to each voter; in the sixth column, the signature and impression of the right thumb of (.he voter shall be affixed on one of the copies of the list when he appears to vote, and in the seventh column, the signature of the inspector who has handed the ballot to the voter. "(c) Manner of entering registrations on ensuing days; publication of lists.—At each meeting, a space shall be left, after each set of surnames beginning with the same letter sufficient for the addition thereto at subsequent meetings of surnames beginning with the same letter. Before any such surnames are added at any subsequent meetings there shall be written 'Added at the (second, third, or fourth, as the case may be) meeting.' During the sixth week next preceding the election, the board of inspectors shall post a complete list of the voters registered in the precinct in a sheltered place at a height of one meter and a half, at the main entrance of the polling place, or as near said entrance as practicable inside the polling place." "SEC. 431. Qualifications prescribed for voters.—Every male or female citizen of the Philippines, twenty-one years of age or over, able to read and write, who shall have been a resident of the Philippines for one year and of the city or municipality in which he has registered during the next preceding six months, who is not disqualified by law, nor is an officer or soldier of the active regular army of the Philippines or the United States, is entitled to vote in said city or municipality at any election."