[ Act No. 2136, February 03, 1912 ]

AN ACT AMENDING SUBSECTION (B) OF SECTION EIGHTEEN OF ACT NUMBERED FOURTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVEN, BY EXTENDING THE PROVISIONS OF SAID SUBSECTION TO CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES OF THE UNITED STATES, BY PROVIDING FOR THE WITHDRAWAL BY THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF CERTAIN FUNDS OF DECEASED AMERICANS REMAINING ON DEPOSIT IN THE POSTAL SAVINGS BANK AND BY CONFERRING ON THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL AUTHORITY TO ASSUME THE CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PROPERTY AND PERSONAL EFFECTS OF SUCH AMERICANS AS MAY BECOME INSANE WHILE EMPLOYED IN THE SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS OR AS CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES OF THE UNITED STATES.

By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Legislature, that:SECTION 1. The second paragraph of subsection (b) of section eighteen of Act Numbered Fourteen hundred and seven, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Whenever any civilian employee, who is a citizen of the United States, in the service of the United States or of the Government of the Philippine Islands, or any branch thereof, shall die in that service, leaving real property or real and personal property in the Philippine Islands, the entire value of which does not exceed one thousand five hundred pesos, and no regular administration in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure shall have been had, the Attorney-General is authorized, and it is Attorney-Generals hereby made his duty, to take possession of the estate of such deceased person, to make a complete inventory thereof, to file the same with the Auditor, and as to such estates to perform all the duties prescribed and render the services required by Act Numbered Two hundred and ninety of the Treasurer of the Philippine Islands as to estates of deceased civilian employees no part of which is real property, and to settle the estates of deceased civilian employees of which real estate is a part in the same manner as the Treasurer of the Philippine Islands now settles estates of deceased civilian employees of which real estate is not a part. If the Attorney-General shall find it to be for the best interests of the parties entitled to the estate of any deceased civilian employee to convert into cash the whole or any part thereof, he is hereby authorized to make sale of the whole or any part of the real or personal property of such estate, at public auction or private sale, as he shall determine to be most advantageous to the estate. Any sale of real or personal property of the estate of any deceased civilian employee of the United States or of the Government of the Philippine Islands made by the Attorney-General by virtue of this Act shall convey to the purchaser all the right, title, and interest of the deceased in such property at the time of his death.  In case any personal property of the deceased is not converted into cash, upon receiving proper receipts for the same, he shall deliver or cause to be  delivered such personal  property to the person or persons whom he shall adjudge to be lawfully entitled thereto.   In case no sale is made of the real property of any deceased civilian employee the Attorney-General shall convey such real estate to the persons whom he shall adjudge to be lawfully entitled thereto and shall recite in the conveyance that said real estate is conveyed to such persons under and by virtue of this Act: Provided, however, That no personal property not converted into cash shall be delivered nor any unsold real property shall be conveyed to any person until all the debts of the deceased for which claims have been presented shall have been satisfied in full or disallowed by the Attorney-General: And provided further, That in the case of the death in the Philippine Islands of any American not employed by the Government of the Philippine Islands or of the United States at the time of his death, where any funds of the deceased not exceeding fifty pesos in amount remain on deposit in the  Postal Savings Bank one year after the death of the owner thereof and no other person in the Philippine Islands is legally entitled to withdraw the same, the Attorney-General is hereby empowered and it shall he his duty as administrator  non to withdraw the said funds and to pay them over to such person or persons as may be legally entitled thereto in the manner hereinbefore provided."

SEC. 2. Subsection (b) of section eighteen of Act Numbered Fourteen hundred and seven is further amended by adding at the end thereof the following paragraph:

"The Attorney-General is hereby authorized and it shall be his duty whenever any American while an employee of the Government of the Philippine Islands or a civilian employee of the United States shall become insane and shall have been received for treatment in a Government hospital to assume the control and management of the said employee's property and personal effects until such employee shall have died, recovered, or been removed to the United States: Provided, however, That nothing in this section shall be construed as being in conflict with the provisions of sections five hundred and fifty-nine to five hundred and eighty-one,  inclusive, of Act Numbered One hundred and ninety."

Enacted, February 3, 1912.

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