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By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:

SECTION 1. Act Numbered Fourteen hundred and fifty-five, entitled "An Act suspending the collection of the land tax throughout the Philippine Islands, outside the city of Manila, during the calendar year nineteen hundred and six, appropriating funds from the Insular Treasury for reimbursement to the provinces and municipalities of the sums which they will lose by reason of the suspension of the land tax, and providing a method of equalization and revaluation of land assessments and of obtaining information as to the rental values of lands and improvements thereon," is hereby amended as follows:

1. By striking out paragraphs (c) to (b), inclusive, of section three and inserting in lieu hereof the following paragraphs:
   
   "(c) It shall be the duty of every owner of real estate in the municipality to prepare or cause to be prepared a statement of the amount of lands, buildings, and improvements thereon, which he owns within the municipality, together with a statement of the value and annual rental value thereof and a description sufficient in detail to enable the board of assessors to identify the same on examination. He shall subscribe the statement and verify the same on oath before the municipal secretary, who is hereby authorized to administer such oath: Provided. That in case the property owner lives at a point remote from the office of the municipal secretary the statement may be subscribed and verified by oath before any municipal secretary or before any person authorized to administer oaths: And provided further, That the declaration required by this paragraph shall be upon a form to be provided, without charge, by the municipal secretary, and such declaration shall require no internal-revenue stamp. The declaration shall be filed with the secretary of the board of assessors within two weeks after the organization of the board.
   
   "(d) On the first day of March, nineteen hundred and' six, or as soon thereafter as practicable, the assessors shall meet and take the oath of office, organize, and proceed to assess the value and annual rental value of all taxable real estate, including land and improvements, in the municipality and shall enter the assessed value of each parcel of land and the improvements thereon and the annual rental value of the same on the back of its respective declaration.    In making this assessment the board of assessors shall take into consideration the sworn statement by the owners of property in  the municipality herein before required to be filed but shall not be prevented thereby from considering other evidence on the subject.    For the purpose of making this assessment the board is authorized  to summon witnesses,  administer oaths to them,  and : subject: them to examination concerning the ownership and amount of real  estate in the municipality. It shall be the duty of the . board, so far as is necessary, to examine the records of the office of the provincial register of deeds showing the ownership of real estate in the municipality.
   
   "(e)   If the board of assessors shall find parcels of land within the municipality subject to taxation the owner or owners of which can not be discovered after a proper investigation, it shall be the " duty of the board to declare and assess the value and annual rental value of the same for taxation, charging the taxes as against an unknown owner and describing with sufficient accuracy the property thus declared and assessed.    If it shall be discovered by the board, ; or brought to its attention, or to the attention of any member thereof, that any taxable real estate in the municipality has escaped assessment, it shall be the duty of the board at once to assess the value and rental value of the same and charge against the owner thereof the taxes due for the current year and for all other years since the original assessment was made, and the taxes shall be legal and collectible by all the remedies provided by law, and penalties and interest shall be added to the back taxes as if the same had been assessed at the time when they should have been assessed.
   
   "(f)  The board of assessors shall complete their assessment of real property on or before June first, nineteen hundred and six, and shall authenticate the same by signing the certificate on the ' back of each declaration..
   
   "(g) When the assessment shall be completed in accordance with , the foregoing section the declarations shall be filed in the office of the secretary of the board and the board of assessors shall by notice , posted at the main entrance of the municipal building and by a notice posted in a public and conspicuous place in each barrio of the municipality inform the public that the assessment has been completed and the declarations are on file in the office of the secretary of the board and may he examined by any person interested therein, and that upon a day at least ten days after the posting of said notice the board will be in session for the purpose of hearing complaints as to the accuracy of the assessment of the property and the value and annual rental value thereof. After such notices have been posted, the secretary shall certify to the fact of posting upon the records, which shall be deemed prima facie evidence thereof. Upon the day fixed in the posted notice the board shall meet and hear all complaints then or theretofore filed by persons against whom taxes have been assessed as owners of real estate and shall make and enter the decision upon its minutes; and if the board shall determine that injustice has been done or errors have been committed it shall have authority to amend the certificate on the back of the declaration of the property so affected.
   
   "(h)  In case any complainant before the board of assessors shall feel aggrieved by its decision he may, within ten days after the entry of the decision upon the minutes, appeal to a board of tax appeals , hereinafter provided for. He shall perfect his appeal by filing a written notice of the same with the board of assessors, and it shall be the duty of the secretary of said board forthwith to transmit the appeal to the board of tax appeals with all written evidence in the possession of the board relating to said assessment and valuation.
   
   "(i) The provincial board of tax appeals shall consist of the provincial board and two other residents of the province (taxpayers) to be appointed by the Governor-General, by and with the consent of the Philippine Commission. The provincial governor shall be the chairman of this board and the provincial secretary shall be the secretary and shall keep the record of his proceedings. A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum, and the action of the board shall be in accordance with the votes of a majority of a quorum. The board of tax appeals shall be organized on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and six, and shall forth with give notice to the municipal council of each municipality in the province that the board of tax appeals will hear all complaints against the assessment and valuation of lands and the rental value thereof, including the improvements thereon in the several municipalities at the times and places stated in the notice.
   
   "(j) The notices required in the preceding section shall be in writing and shall be immediately transmitted to the municipal council of each of the municipalities in the province. The time fixed for receiving and hearing complaints shall not be earlier than the tenth day of July, and not later than the fifteenth day of August, nineteen hundred and six. A date within the limits in this paragraph named shall be fixed for hearing complaints from each municipality.
   
   "(k) Upon receiving the notice herein before stated, it is hereby made the duty of the municipal council of each municipality immediately to post a copy of such notice in a conspicuous place in the municipal building and in one or more public and conspicuous places in each barrio of the municipality.
   
   "(l) If the board of tax appeals, on hearing, shall determine that the general valuations or rental values in any municipality are excessive it may reduce such valuations or rental values so that they shall be fair and just and make an equality between the municipality in question and the other municipalities of the province in that respect. Should the board of tax appeals determine that the valuations or rental values in any municipality are less than the true value, or rental value, of the real estate and improvements thereon, it shall increase such valuations or rental values so that they shall be fair and just valuations and make an equality between the municipality in question and the other municipalities in the province in that respect. Before the general values or rental values of any municipality shall be increased or decreased the municipal council, by its president or its representatives duly authorized for that purpose, shall be entitled to be heard upon the question of such increase or reduction.
   
   "(m) The board of tax appeals shall in accordance with law fix the just assessed value, or rental value, in Philippine currency, instead of in United States money, of every parcel of land and the improvements thereon which shall be' brought before it for consideration in the manner in this Act provided, or which it shall , desire to take up.
   
   "(n) When the revision of the assessed value of all lands and improvements and the rental value thereof in the provinces shall have been completed by the board of tax appeals in accordance with the provisions of this Act the president and secretary of such board shall, on or before the first day of September, nineteen hundred and six, certify over their signatures on the backs of the declarations' affected  the  changes made by the board of tax appeals in the ' previous assessment, and a statement of the total assessment of taxable lands and improvements and the annual rental value in ' each municipality shall be sent to the municipal council of each municipality in the province, who shall file the same in the office of the secretary of the municipality.    The  assessment as  corrected shall be a substitute for the one now existing, and it shall thereafter be the legal assessment and upon it thereafter the collections of taxes shall be made,  except as herein otherwise provided. The original declarations duly certified shall be provincial records and shall be delivered to and filed in the office of the provincial treasurer, and shall  form the basis for his collections unless modified in the manner hereinafter provided in this Act.
   
   "(o) The revised values and rental values shall constitute the lawful assessment of real property and improvements and the annual rental value thereof in the several municipalities of the province until another general assessment shall be made, except as hereinafter provided. The provisions of existing law as modified by this Act in relation to the assessment and collection of taxes upon real estate and improvements and the annual rental value shall be applicable to the assessment and collection of taxes upon the values in this Act provided for unless a new system of taxation shall by legislative enactment be inaugurated based upon annual rental values in lieu of the collection of taxes upon assessed values.
   
   "'(p) No member of the board of tax appeals shall sit in consideration of the assessment of property in which he or any member of his family or any relative within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity shall have an interest, but this shall not apply where the question of the increase or reduction of the general values in a municipality are being considered in order to make an equality between the municipality in question and the other municipalities in the province in that respect. In cases where an member or members of the board shall be disqualified to act by reason of this section the remaining members of the board are hereby authorized to act in such cases as a full board.
   
   "(q) Before entering upon the performance of their duties each member of the board of tax appeals shall take and subscribe the following oath before any officer authorized to administer oaths:
   
   “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will well and truly revise all the assessments and valuations of the value of real estate and improvements thereon and of the annual rental value thereof, and will well and truly assess new improvements not before assessed, all according to their true value in money, and make due certificate of the same" to the treasurer of the province and to the municipal board of each municipality as to the lands and improvements thereon and the annual rental value in such municipality. So help me God. (In case of affirmation the last four words should be stricken out.)
   
   

   	" '(Signature) ...........................................
   " 'Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me this..............day of........................................., 190.....
   	"'..................................................................' (Signature of the officer administering oath.)

   "(r) The provincial secretary shall act as secretary of the board of tax appeals without additional compensation. He may employ in his office to assist in the work of the board of tax appeals as his subordinates such number of clerks and at such salaries as shall be fixed  by  the  provincial  board   and  approved  by  the   Executive  Secretary. The provisions of the civil-service law shall not apply to the subordinates thus temporarily appointed, and their term of service shall end on the first day of September, nineteen hundred and six, or sooner if the work required by this Act shall be sooner accomplished.
   
   "(s) Each of the two members of the board of tax appeals appointed by the Governor-General, by and with the consent of the Philippine Commission, shall receive for each day's session of the board upon which he was in actual attendance, the sum of eight pesos, and his actual expenses for travel and subsistence, not exceeding three pesos per day, while in attendance upon the board and its meetings from the time he leaves his usual place residence until he returns to the same. In ease the usual place of residence of such member shall be so far distant from the capital as to make it impracticable for him to go to his home on Sunday and return upon Monday, he shall be allowed the per diem for Sunday as well as for the days when the board is in actual session. The salaries and expenses lawfully incurred in pursuance of the provisions of this Act relating to the board of tax appeals shall be paid out of provincial funds.
   
   "(t) The board of tax appeals shall cease to exercise any power under this Act on and after the fifteenth day of September, nineteen hundred and six."
   
   
2. By striking out the first part of section four, down to, but not including, the words  "The  duties of  the board  shall be  as follows:" and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
   
   "There shall be appointed by the Governor-General, by and with the consent of the Philippine Commission, a central equalizing board, composed of the supervisor of land assessments hereinafter provided for and four members, for the purpose of making a general review of the assessments and valuations as finally perfected by the several boards of tax appeals throughout all the provinces and for securing, so far as is practicable, a uniform basis of valuations and of assessments of rental values. The four members of the central equalizing board shall each receive a compensation of twenty pesos per day for the time actual!v employed in the performance of their duties, together with their necessary traveling expenses, including subsistence when absent from Manila, to be paid out of the Insular Treasury. A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum, and the action of a majority of the quorum shall be binding as the action of the board. The board shall organize and enter upon the performance of its duties on September first, nineteen hundred and six."
   
   
3. By adding the following proviso at the end of paragraph (b) of section four:
   
   "Provided, That all. appeals tinder this section from the decision of the board of tax appeals must be filed with the secretary of the central equalizing board on or before October fifteenth, nineteen hundred and six, and no appeals shall be heard or acted upon that are filed thereafter."
   
   
4. By striking out the whole of paragraph  (g) of section four and inserting in lieu thereof 'the following paragraph:
   
   "(g) There shall be a supervisor of land assessments, who shall be appointed by the Governor-General, by and with the consent of the Philippine Commission, and who shall be entitled to compensation at the rate of five hundred pesos per month and actual and necessary traveling expenses, including subsistence when absent from Manila on official business. He shall be allowed a clerk, who shall be competent to take testimony in shorthand and who shall be entitled to compensation at the rate of three hundred pesos per month and actual and necessary traveling expenses including subsidence when absent from Manila on official business. The said  supervisor and clerk shall be attached to the Executive Bureau and their salaries and traveling expenses shall be paid out of funds heretofore appropriated for said Bureau. Subject to the supervision and approval of the Governor-General, the supervisor of land assessments shall have charge of the details, direct the methods and issue the instructions necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this Act. The supervisor and clerk herein provided for shall be ex officio chairman and secretary, respectively, of the central equalizing board. Should an officer or employee in any branch of the Government service entitled to the privileges accorded to classified civil-service employees be appointed to any position authorized by this Act, his service shall be deemed to be continuous in the same manner as if no change had been made in his position and he shall not be deprived of any of the said privileges by reason of such appointment.
   
   Necessary stationery will be provided for use of the central equalizing board, and all lawful expenses of the board, including those of the chairman and secretary, shall be paid from funds appropriated for the Executive Bureau.
   
   
5. By sinking out the words '''All assessment lists" at the beginning of section five and inserting in lieu thereof the words All assessments."
   
   
6. By striking out the words "central equalization board" wherever they appear in other sections of said Act and inserting in lieu thereof the words central equalizing board."

SEC. 2. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws." passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.

SEC. 3. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, April 3, 1906.