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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 last two  paragraphs of section seventeen of Act  Numbered Twenty-two  hundred and fifty-nine, entitled "An Act providing certain special  proceedings for the settlement and adjudication of land titles," are hereby amended to  read as follows:

"For the purposes of this section, the value of the property shall be its last assessed value or, in default thereof, its market value.

"The fees  authorized under this section shall be payable to the register upon the delivery of the titles to the owners thereof: Provided, however. That such fees may be payable to the  provincial  treasurer or his deputies when these deliver  said  titles by delegation by the register."

SEC. 2. Section eighteen of said Act Numbered Twenty-two hundred and fifty-nine, as amended by Act Numbered Twenty-five hundred and fifty-eight, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 18.  (a) One-tenth of the cost of the registration proceedings and the cadastral survey and monumenting had under this Act shall be borne by the Insular Government; one-tenth shall be paid by the province concerned, and one- tenth by the  city, municipality, municipal district, township or settlement in which the land  is situated, the city  of Manila to be  considered for this purpose, both as a province and a municipality; and the remaining seven-tenths shall be taxed  by  the  court against each and all  of the lots included in a cadastral proceeding and shall be apportioned in accordance with  the area thereof, but in no case  shall less  than five pesos be taxed against each  lot: Provided, That when  in the  judgment of  the provincial board,  a municipality, municipal  district,  township  or settlement has  not sufficient funds to pay this obligation, its share may be  paid by the  province.  The amounts  thus taxed against each of the lots or parcels of land shall be considered a special assessment of taxes against the respective parcels, shall constitute a first lien upon the land, and shall be collected by the Director of Lands or his duly authorized representatives in equal installments within a period of five years, bearing interest at the rate of six  per centum per annum.  The first installment  shall become clue and payable at the same time as  the  general land  taxes  for the year next succeeding the year in which the Court of First Instance rendered its decision apportioning  the costs, and shall be collected in the same manner as such general land taxes.  Each succeeding installment shall become due and payable at the same time as the general land taxes for the corresponding current year and shall  be collected  in the same  manner.  The clerk of the court shall for this  purpose send to the officer in charge of such collection a copy of said order of apportionment of costs:  Provided, however,That the amounts representing the  proportional shares  of the costs taxed against lots surveyed  at the request and expense of their owner, and for which a plan  other than the cadastral plan has been made by a duly authorized surveyor prior to the decision in the cadastral proceeding,  or which have been  registered in accordance with  the provisions  of Act  Numbered  Four hundred and ninety-six entitled 'The Land Registration Act,' prior to the decision in the cadastral proceeding, or have been declared to  be public lands by the court, shall not constitute a lien against said lot nor shall they be collected from the owners thereof: Provided, further, That the owner of any lot may, if he so desire, pay any installment of the  costs  taxed against his lot at any time before the same becomes due.

" (b)  In case  of the sale, transfer, or conveyance, for a pecuniary consideration, of any property, or  part thereof, registered by virtue of a decree issued in a cadastral proceeding, prior to the payment of the total amount of the costs taxed against such property in  accordance  with the preceding paragraph, endorsed as an incumbrance or lien upon  each cadastral  certificate of title, the vendor or his legal representatives shall pay such costs in their entirety in case the order apportioning the costs has already  been issued in the cadastral proceeding  in  which the property being sold, transferred, or conveyed  is included, and the register  of deeds concerned shall demand of the vendor, before registering the deed for such sale, transfer, or conveyance of said property, that he  exhibit a receipt  signed by  the Director of Lands or his duly authorized representative, showing that such incumbrance or lien has been paid: Provided, however, That in cases of sale, transfer, or conveyance of the property in which the order apportioning the costs has not yet  been  issued, the register shall endorse on the certificate of transfer  issued by him  the incumbrance or lien appearing on the former certificate as guarantee of the payment of the costs above referred to.

" (c)  The costs of the registration proceedings under the provisions of this Act shall consist of a sum equivalent to ten per centum of the cost of the survey and monumenting of the land.  The amount of the costs of the proceeding so taxed shall be for all services rendered by the General  Land Registration Office and the clerk or his deputies in each cadastral proceeding, and the expense of publication, mailing, and posting notices, as well as the notices of the decision and the order apportioning the costs shall be borne by the General Land Registration Office.

"(d) All amounts  collected by the Director of Lands or his duly authorized representatives from the owners  of the various lots as costs of proceedings, survey, and  monumenting in accordance with this section, shall be  covered into the Insular Treasury: Provided, however, That the various provincial or  municipal  governments  may,  in their discretion, with the  approval  of the Secretary of the Interior, assume and pay the cost of the survey, monumenting, and registration taxed and apportioned against the various  lots and owners thereof, and in such event the payments required to be made by said owners shall be made as herein provided and shall be covered into the provincial or municipal treasury as a part of the general funds of the province or municipality.

" (e)  Upon the collection of the amount of the cost of the registration proceedings, or part thereof, in each cadastral proceeding in accordance with this section, the Chief of the General Land Registration Office shall forward to the Insular Auditor and the Insular Treasurer a statement of such collection, and the latter is hereby authorized  and empowered to pay to the General Land  Registration Office a sum equal to the amount  of said cost of proceedings collected, and the sums necessary to make such payments are hereby appropriated out of  any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums to be credited to the  appropriations for the General  Land Registration Office for disbursement in other cadastral registration proceedings."

SEC.  3. This Act shall have retroactive effect and shall be applicable to all cadastral proceedings in which the order apportioning the costs had  not been dictated at the time of the promulgation hereof.

Approved, March 16, 1923.