[ Commonwealth Act No. 446, June 08, 1939 ]

AN ACT APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR THE OPERATION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES DURING THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE THIRTIETH, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY.

Be it enacted by the  National Assembly of the  Philippines:  SECTION 1. Title of Act.—This Act shall be known as the "General Appropriation Act for the fiscal year nineteen hundred and forty."SEC. 2. Appropriation of funds.—The following sums, or so much thereof as may be necessary, are appropriated out of any funds in the Philippine Treasury not other­wise appropriated, for the operation of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and forty, unless  otherwise  stated: 

SPECIAL PROVISIONS1.           Any unexpended balance of the funds appropriated for the National Assembly may be used to cover a de­ficit in any item of the appropriation for the said As­sembly, including prior years'  expenses.2.           Any Member of the National Assembly may as­ sign his yearly salary provided in this Act or any part thereof  to  any  banking  or  loan   institution   doing busi­ness  in  the  Philippines,   including  the  compensation  to his  family  in   the  event   of   death,   and   upon   such   as­signment being registered with the disbursing officer of the National Assembly, such officer shall issue warrants from time to time as the salary or death compensation falls due, directly in favor of the creditor banking or loan institution.3.           The Secretary of the National Assembly shall re­ceive the compensation herein fixed, the provision of any existing law to the contrary notwithstanding.4.           Any part of the appropriation for supplementary force may be expended for the payment of salaries of em­ployees who may serve during any period in the National Assembly.5.    The appropriations   in  items  3,  5,   and  9  under "Sundry Expenses"  and  that for "Purchase c,f furniture and equipment" may be expended respectively, for postage and fees  of correspondence  and  telegrams  of the Members, including freight, express, and delivery service; for supplies and materials; for printing and binding re­ ports,   documents,   and   publications;   and  for  equipment that may be used by them, the total amount not to ex­ceed four hundred pesos per annum for each Member.

SEC. 4. Allotment of appropriations.—The appro­priations for sundry expenses, furniture and equipment, and special purposes for the Office of the President shall be alloted by the President among the bureaus and of­fices under his direct control; those for the Executive Departments, by the Heads of Departments among the bureaus and offices under their respective control. The allotments shall be made as the needs of the service may require.SEC. 5. Reduction of required forced savings and transfer of any part of the increase in  the appropriations resulting therefrom to cover deficits.—Whenever the public interest so demands, the President may re­duce the forced savings required of any executive or judi­cial department in this Act and he may authorize the transfer of any part of the increase in the appropriations of any executive or judicial department as a result of such reduction of forced savings, furniture and equipment, and special purposes of the same or any other executive or judicial department.SEC. 6. Use of savings from salaries and wages to restore salary rates received by employees in nineteen hun­dred and thirty-two.—Any part of the savings from the appropriations authorized in this Act for salaries and wages may be used, with the approval of the President of the Philippines, to restore the salaries of employees whose positions are herein provided to the rates they re­ceived in nineteen hundred and thirty-two, in the cases where full restoration of the ten or fifteen per cent sa­lary reduction of nineteen hundred and thirty-three have not been made in their respective items in this Act, in­cluding amounts due for the years 1938 and 1939 under authority of section 5 of Commonwealth Act Numbered Two hundred and forty-five and section 4 of Common­wealth Act Numbered Three hundred,  respectively.In the case of employees whose salaries are paid from special or trust funds, the amounts necessary to effect the restoration of salary rates herein authorized shall be charged against the special or trust funds concerned.SEC. 7. Authority to use savings and excess of ac­tual collections over estimated income for adjustment of compensation.—The President of the Philippines is author­ized to use any part of the savings from the appropriations authorized in this Act, as well as any excess of actual col­lections over the estimated ordinary income of the Na­tional Government during the fiscal year 1940, for the adjustment of the compensations of employees pursuant to the provisions of section 12 of Commonwealth Act Num­bered Four hundred and two and for the payment of un­paid portions of wages of laborers at the minimum rates fixed by Commonwealth Act Numbered Thirty-seven and Executive Order Numbered One hundred five, series of 1937, which were earned after the enactment and promul­gation of the said Act and Executive Order and could not be paid for lack of available funds.SEG. 8. Authority to fill new positions.—No new po­sitions authorized in this Act shall be filled without the previous approval of the President of the Philippines. The provision of this section shall not apply to the National Assembly.SEC. 9. This Act shall take effect on July first, nine­teen hundred and thirty-nine, except where otherwise stated.APPROVED, June 8,  1939.

Source: Supreme Court E-Library