[ Act No. 854, August 26, 1903 ]

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE EDUCATION OF FILIPINO STUDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES AND APPROPRIATING FOR SUCH PURPOSE THE SUM OF SEVENTY-TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS, IN MONEY OF THE UNITED STATES.

By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:SECTION 1. In each of the school divisions of the Archipelago examinations to secure a list of students best qualified to receive and profit by a course of instruction and education in the United States shall be held under the direction of the division superintendents on or before the thirty-first of March in each year hereafter. Candidates for examination must be students of the public schools and natives of the Philippine Islands, of good moral character, sound physical condition, and not less than sixteen nor more than twenty-one years of age. Full report of such examinations shall be made by division superintendents to the General Superintendent of Education, who shall certify to the Civil Governor, through the Secretary of Public Instruction, as eligible for appointment as Government students to be educated in the United States all candidates receiving a percentage of not less than seventy-five in each subject of examination. The Civil Governor may appoint from the number so certified such a number of students as may be prescribed by resolution of the Commission, designating in the appointment of each the school, college, university, or other educational institution in the United States to which the student will be sent for education at the expense of the Government of the Philippine Islands. With the approval of the Commission the Civil Governor may designate and appoint for special instruction in the United States twenty-five students at large and not included in said certified list, but such students shall be natives of the Philippine Islands, not more than twenty-five years of age, of good moral character, and in sound physical condition.SEC. 2. The Civil Governor may, of his own motion, with or without competitive examination, as he may elect, select and appoint for the fiscal year nineteen hundred and four one hundred students to be educated in the United States at the expense of the Government of the Philippine Islands. Of said one hundred students, thirteen shall be selected and appointed for instruction in agriculture and the useful mechanical arts and sciences and twelve for such course of special instruction, approved by the Civil Governor, as they may elect. The students so selected and appointed by the Governor shall be students of the public schools and natives of the Philippine islands, of good moral character, sound physical condition, and not less than sixteen nor more than twenty-one years of age: Provided, however, That natives of the Philippine Islands, of good moral character, sound physical condition, and not exceeding twenty-five years of age may be selected and appointed by the Civil Governor for a course of special instruction.SEC. 3. After his selection and before his appointment each student shall be subjected to a thorough physical examination by a physician designated by the Civil Governor, and the appointment of such student; shall be dependent on the favorable report of the Oath of allegiance, physician so designated. Each student receiving an appointment shall be required to take the oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States, and to sign an agreement, approved by his parents or guardian if he is under twenty-one years of age, to the effect that he will attend the educational institution designated by the Civil Governor for the period of four years, or for such time as may be prescribed in his appointment, unless sooner released; that he will conform to all regulations, rules, and laws of said institution and such other regulations as may be prescribed by the Department of Public Instruction; that he will diligently, studiously, and faithfully pursue the established course of studies or such special course of studies as may be indicated by the Civil Governor; and that upon the termination of his studies in the United States, in conformity with, this Act and the terms of his appointment and agreement, he will return to the Philippine Islands, and within two months after his return will take a civil-service examination, competitive or noncompetitive, in the discretion of the Civil Service Board, to qualify in such grade or for such office or position under civil-service rules as he may elect, and that if certified for appointment by the Civil Service Board and appointed from such certification to any office or post in the civil service at any time within one year after his return, he will accept such appointment and faithfully perform the duties of the office or post to which he is appointed, for the salary fixed by competent authority and for a period of time equal to that spent by him in the United States at the expense of the Government, unless sooner separated from the service by competent authority.SEC. 4. The Civil Governor, by and with the approval of the Commission, may appoint a suitable agent to receive Government students in the United States and to arrange for their transportation to the institutions of learning to which such students shall have been assigned, to make all necessary arrangements for the entrance of such students into said institutions and for their care, protection, and welfare while students therein, and to perform such other duties as may be ordered by the General Superintendent of Education. The agent is hereby placed under the supervision of the Chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs at Washington, to whom he shall make quarterly reports of the health, welfare, and progress of each student. He shall also send duplicates of such reports to the General Superintendent of Education. Such agent so appointed shall receive a compensation not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars, in money of the United States, per annum, and his necessary traveling expenses while engaged in the performance of the duties required by this section.SEC. 5. The cost of education and maintenance of said students in the United States, not exceeding the sum of five hundred dollars, in money of the United States, per student per annum, and the actual and necessary traveling expenses of said students to the educational institutions in the United States to which they have been assigned and their actual and necessary traveling expenses from such educational institution to Manila, Philippine Islands, upon the completion of their studies in conformity with this Act and their agreement, shall be paid by the Government of the Philippine Islands.SEC. 6. There is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of seventy-two thousand dollars, in money of the United States, or so much thereof as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. Funds appropriated for the purposes of this Act for expenditure in the United States shall be disbursed by the Disbursing Officer of Insular Funds, Bureau of Insular Affairs, War Department, Washington. District of Columbia, on vouchers properly signed and duly presented.SEC. 7. This Act shall take effect on its passage.Enacted, August 26, 1903.

Source: Supreme Court E-Library