[ Act No. 2988, February 24, 1921 ]

AN ACT TO ABOLISH THE PUBLIC WELFARE BOARD AND TRANSFER ITS POWERS AND FUNCTIONS TO THE OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC WELFARE COMMISSIONER; MAKE THE BUREAU OF DEPENDENT CHILDREN A DIVISION OF THE OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC WELFARE COMMISSIONER; CHARGE SAID OFFICE WITH THE ACTIVITIES AND FUNCTIONS RELATIVE TO THE PROTECTION OF INFANCY, AS PROVIDED FOR IN ACTS NUMBERED TWENTY-SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE AND TWENTY-NINE HUNDRED AND FIVE, AND WITH ALL WORK IN GENERAL, RELATED WITH MATERNITY, HYGIENE, AND CHILD WELFARE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Legislature assembled and by the authority of the same:SECTION 1. The Public Welfare Board, established by Act Numbered Twenty-five hundred and ten, as amended by Act Numbered Twenty-seven hundred and forty-five, is hereby abolished, and all functions, duties, and powers of said Board are conferred upon and transferred to the Public Welfare Commissioner, whose office is hereby created, under the direction and executive control of the Department of the Interior. Said Commissioner shall be appointed by the Governor-General, by and with the consent of the Senate. The relations of direction and dependence between the Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner and the Department of the Interior shall be governed by chapter five of the Administrative Code, as amended by Act Numbered Twenty-eight hundred and three.SEC. 2. It is hereby directed that the Bureau of Dependent Children, as organized under Act Numbered Twenty-eight hundred and fifteen, shall be merged with the Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner, as created by this Act. Said Bureau of Dependent Children, upon being so merged, shall be considered as a division of the Office of the Public Commissioner. Upon said merger, the present officers and employees of the Bureau of Dependent Children shall be transferred to the Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner and shall continue in the enjoyment of the same rights and priveleges which they have been enjoying heretofore, under the Civil Service rules.SEC. 3. It is further provided that hereafter the sum of one million pesos, or so much thereof as may remain un expended, appropriated by Act Numbered Twenty-six hundred and thirty-three, as amended by Act Numbered Twenty-nine hundred and five, may be disbursed, any provisions of existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, for general work related with maternity, hygiene, and child welfare, and all activities, duties, and functions prescribed by said acts, as amended by the present Act, shall be performed through the Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner.With regard to the maternity, hygiene, and child welfare work, any officer or employee of the Insular, provincial or municipal governments shall render services when required by the Secretary of the Interior, and may receive additional compensation therefor if authorized by said Secretary.SEC. 4. The Secretary of the Interior, through the Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner, shall have authority, and it shall be his duty, to investigate, promote, coordinate, inspect, and regulate all work related with maternity, hygiene, and child welfare in the Philippine Islands, any provisions of existing law to the contrary notwithstanding. And said Secretary, through the Public Welfare Commissioner, may establish and maintain maternity hospitals, puericultural institutions, dispensaries, hospitals, and other establishments for the care of children and for the instruction of the personnel which shall have charge of this work.SEC. 5. All and each of the acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.SEC. 6. This Act shall take effect on its approval.Approved, Febnruary 24, 1921.

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