[ Act No. 2163, February 06, 1912 ]

AN ACT CREATING A COMMISSION TO SECURE, ORGANIZE, AND MAKE AN EXHIBIT OF PHILIPPINE PRODUCTS, MANUFACTURES, ART, ETHNOLOGY, AND EDUCATION AT THE PANAMA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION TO BE HELD AT SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, IN THE UNITED STATES, IN NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN, MAKING AN APPROPRIATION THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

By authority of the United Slates, be it enacted by the Philippine Legislature, that:SECTION 1. For the purpose of acquiring, organizing, and  making an exhibit of the products, manufactures, arts, ethnology, education, and customs and habits of the country, the Governor-General, with the advice and consent of the Commission, shall appoint a board to be known as "Philippine Board of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition," hereinafter designated the Board, and to consist of three members, one of whom shall be designated in his appointment as president. The president of the Board shall receive an annual salary of ten thousand pesos Philippine currency, and the other members an annual salary of eight thousand pesos Philippine currency each. The Board shall have a secretary appointed by the Governor-General, with the advice and consent of the Commission, who shall receive an annual salary of eight thousand pesos Philippine currency. On recommendation of the Board, and with the approval of the Governor-General, one of the members of said Board shall be designated as Director-General and shall receive additional compensation at the rate of two thousand pesos Philippine currency per annum. Any two members of the Board shall constitute a quorum.The Board shall have an office in the city of Manila, for which purpose the Governor-General shall assign to it one of the buildings available, and shall adopt rules for its meetings and the transaction of its business.SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the Board either as a body, or by individual members, or through agents, to secure in the Philippine Islands as comprehensive an exhibit as possible of the products and resources, manufactures, arts, ethnology, education, government of the Philippine Islands, and the habits and customs of the Filipino people; and for this purpose the Board is authorized to visit, either as a body or by individual members, or by agents, every part of the Philippine Islands, as may be necessary, and every member and officer and employee appointed under the provisions of this Act shall be deemed an officer or employee of the Government of the Philippine Islands for the purpose of enabling him to enjoy the same rights as are granted by law to such officers and employees, as regards traveling expenses or per diems, when traveling on official business and while absent from their usual place of residence.SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the Board, or its agents, to secure from as many persons as possible, private exhibits or articles belonging to such persons, and to return the same to them at the close of the Exposition at San Francisco, California.SEC. 4. The Board is further authorized to acquire by purchase such exhibits as it may not be able to obtain gratuitously, and to make such disposition of same after the Exposition is closed as may seem wise, tendering them first to the Smithsonian Institution, and afterward to the Philadelphia Commercial Museum or any other  museum in the Philippine Islands or in the United States: Provided, however, That a committee to be appointed by the Governor-General shall select from among the exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, belonging to the Philippine Government, such exhibits as it may consider wise and not too costly to return to Manila at the close of such exposition for the purpose of installing same in a permanent museum at Manila: And provided further, That the property, effects, and exhibits of the Insular Museum of Ethnology, Natural History and Commerce, established by Act Numbered Two hundred and eighty-four, which shall have been taken by the Board shall be returned to Manila.SEC. 5. The Board herein appointed may, subject to the approval of the Governor-General, formulate rules which shall govern the receipt of exhibits, their preservation, transportation, classification, and final disposition.SEC. 6. The Board is authorized and directed to secure the needed land from the authorities of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition for the Philippine Exhibit; to expend the necessary sums in the drawing of plans for the necessary buildings, and for their construction; and for the laying out of the grounds included in the tract of land assigned to the Philippine Exhibit; to incur all necessary expenditures, in the securing of exhibits including the necessary advertising, in the transportation of exhibits from the points where secured to Manila, and thence to San Francisco, California, United States.SEC. 7. The Board shall have power to incur, in the work of the collection of the exhibit, its transportation to San Francisco, the construction of buildings at San Francisco and the laying out of grounds, and in other expenditures authorized by this Act, obligations not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of five hundred thousand pesos; and in addition to that sum, any sum which may be contributed for the purpose of aiding the Philippine Exhibit by the Directors of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, the latter sum to be expended under such limitations and restrictions as may be imposed by the directors of the Exposition.SEC. 8. The Board shall nave the power to appoint stenographers, clerks, traveling agents, messengers, laborers, and such other employees as may be necessary at salaries or wages to be fixed by the Board upon the approval of the Governor-General while the majority of the Board is in the Philippine Islands. When such majority is in the United States no positions shall be created and no persons appointed to the same, except by unanimous vote of three members of the Board.SEC. 9. It shall be the duty of all heads of Bureaus and Offices of the Philippine Government and the governors and members of and others, provincial boards of all the provinces, and of all the municipal presidents and other municipal officers in the Islands, together with the officers of the Bureau of Navigation to furnish every assistance in their power not inconsistent with law to the Board and its agents appointed under this Act for the purpose of expediting the securing of exhibits, their transportation, and their classification.SEC. 10. No taxes or duties shall be imposed by the Insular, provincial, or municipal governments of the Islands  on  exhibits collected by the Board for exhibit in San Francisco, California.SEC. 11. The Board shall render a monthly report of the work done by it to the Governor-General, and a quarterly account of Board' its receipts and expenditures to the Insular Auditor.Not later than the end of the fifteenth day of each regular session of the Legislature, the Board shall render to the Philippine Legislature a complete and detailed report of all the work done by it to ihe date of said report, specifying in detail its expenditures and disbursements, and giving the exact condition of its funds and accounts.SEC. 12. The Governor-General shall appoint, by and with the Disbursing officer. advice and consent of the Philippine Commission, a disbursing officer for the Board, who shall receive compensation at the rate of three thousand six hundred pesos per annum. In addition to his acting as disbursing officer he shall discharge such other duties as may be assigned to him by the Board. The Insular Auditor shall fix his bond. The disbursing officer thus appointed shall be subject to all requirements imposed by existing law upon the disbursing officers of Bureaus and Departments in respect to rendering accounts to the Auditor and in his drawing of moneys from the Treasury and his custody and deposit of same. Until such time as the work in connection with the exposition shall necessitate the whole time of the directors, officers, or employees provided for in this Act the Governor-General may detail officers and employees of the Government to perform such duties, but such work shall be performed without additional compensation except that an allowance, in no case to exceed two thousand pesos per annum, may be paid to officers and employees so detailed.SEC. 13. There is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of five hundred thousand pesos, to be expended by order of the Board in the payment of salaries and wages and in meeting other obligations authorized to be incurred under this Act. Said sum shall be available as follows: During the fiscal year nineteen hundred and twelve, twenty-five thousand pesos; during the fiscal year nineteen hundred and thirteen, fifty thousand pesos; and during the fiscal year nineteen hundred  and  fourteen,  fifty thousand pesos;  and during the fiscal year nineteen hundred and fifteen, three hundred and seventy-five thousand pesos: Provided, That the unexpended balance of any one year shall be available for expenditure in the succeeding year or years: And provided further: That no part of such funds shall be expended in exhibiting people belonging to the non-Christian tribes of the Philippine Islands.SEC. 14. The Civil Service Act and its amendments shall not apply to appointments under this Act made outside of the Philippine Islands.SEC. 15. This Act shall take effect on its passage.Enacted, February 6, 1912.

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