[ Act No. 198, August 12, 1901 ]

AN ACT PROVIDING THE METHOD FOR FURNISHING OFFICIAL TRANSPORTATION TO OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES OF THE INSULAR, PROVINCIAL, AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS IN THE CITY OF MANILA, AND TO AND FROM THE CITY OF MANILA FROM AND TO THE PROVINCES.

By authority of the President of the United States, be it enacted by the United States Philippine Commission, that:SECTION 1. After the first of September, nineteen hundred and one, all official transportation in the city of Manila, for the heads of Departments and Bureaus, or employees thereof, whether of the Insular Government or the government of the city of Manila, shall be furnished in the following manner and no other:The Insular Purchasing Agent shall, either from the horses and vehicles the property of the Insular Government which are now on hand, or by purchase, provide quilezes or carromatas and horses and harnesses sufficient to provide for actual official needs of all the Bureaus or Departments, and shall station such vehicles and horses in front of the public buildings in which the Departments or Bureaus are, to be available during office hours for official use. The vehicles shall be in charge of an agent of the Purchasing Agent, who shall, upon application, assign a carromata or quilez for the particular service to be performed.SEC. 2. The Purchasing Agent shall provide a suitable stable and carriage house in which to stable the horses and keep the vehicles at the expense of the insular Government, and is authorized to employ the stable boss, drivers, stable boys, and other employees necessary for this purpose.SEC. 3. The Purchasing Agent shall on or before September first take possession of all horses and carriages now owned by the Insular Government and furnished for the official use of the heads of Departments or Bureaus, or of employees thereof, and use such of them as are adapted to carry out the provisions of section one hereof. All two-horse carriages and harnesses and also such other vehicles and horses so owned and furnished as are not useful for the purposes of this Act. He is authorized and directed to offer at public sale, to be sold to the highest bidder, after advertisement in two newspapers of Manila, one English and one Spanish, for ten days, and the proceeds shall be deposited in the Insular Treasury.SEC. 4. It is the purpose and intent of this Act that quilezes and carromatas furnished hereunder shall be used only on official business and not for the convenience or private use of the officers and employees to whom they may be assigned, and in pursuance thereof, use of such vehicles after the usual office hours is strictly prohibited, unless necessity for such use on official business is certified to by the head of the Bureau or Department. Use of such vehicles for transportation to or from the residence of the head of the Department or Bureau, or that of any officer or employee, to his office, in the morning, at noon, or in the evening, is not to be regarded as official business and is expressly prohibited.SEC. 5. In the case of the three members of the Municipal Board of Manila, the City Engineer, the Superintendent of Streets, of Water Supply, of Buildings, the Chief and Assistant Chief of the Fire Department, the Chief and Inspectors of Police, the Chief of the Secret Service, the Prosecuting Attorney, the City Attorney, the City Assessor and Collector, the Chief Deputy Assessor, the Chief Deputy Collector, the Sheriff of Manila, the Superintendent of Schools of Manila, the Chief Inspector of the Board of Health of the Philippine Islands, the Insular Purchasing Agent, the Local Buyer of the Insular Purchasing Agent, the Chief and First Assistant Chief of the Philippines Constabulary, the Cashier of the Custom-House, and the Chief of the Stores Division of the Customs Service, and the Assistant Attending Physician for civil employees, who will have constant need of such vehicles for the discharge of their duties, a particular quilez or carromata may be assigned by the Purchasing Agent to he used for official purposes only, as those purposes are defined in section four, to be stabled and cared for as other vehicles and horses in his charge.SEC. 6. The Insular Purchasing Agent shall render property accounts to the Auditor for all property coining into his hands by virtue of this Act.SEC. 7. In submitting estimates for the necessary appropriations to carry out the provisions of the foregoing sections, the Purchasing Agent shall divide the expense between the city government and the Insular Government in proper proportion, to enable the Commission to make the proper appropriations from city and insular funds.SEC. 8. The Insular Purchasing Agent shall contract with the interisland transportation lines and with railroad companies for the transportation of such officials as may be required by their official duties to go to and from Manila from and to the provinces, and shall issue transportation requests to such officials upon said companies for passage according to the terms agreed on. The mode of payment for these transportation requests shall be made by settlement warrant, upon certification and settlement of the account by the Auditor, said warrants being hereby made chargeable against the appropriations of the respective Departments, Bureaus, or Offices in behalf of which the transportation is issued, and each Department, Bureau, or Office shall submit for appropriation, with its regular estimates, the amounts which will probably be required for the payment of such transportation expenses.SEC. 9. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.SEC. 10. This Act shall take effect on its passage.Enacted, August 12, 1901.

Source: Supreme Court E-Library