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[ Act No. 2819, March 04, 1919 ]

AN ACT TO REPEAL AND AMEND CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE CODE, AUTHORIZING MUNICIPALITIES, CITIES, AND TOWNSHIPS TO REGULATE SIGNS AND BILLBOARDS AND FIX LICENSE FEES THEREFOR, 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. Subsection (k) of section fourteen hundred and twenty-four, sections fourteen hundred and seventy-five, fourteen hundred and seventy-six, fourteen hundred and seventy-seven, and twenty-seven hundred and twenty-nine of Act Numbered Twenty-seven hundred and eleven are hereby repealed.

SEC. 2. Section fourteen hundred and thirty-eight of said Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"SEC. 1438. Sources of taxes.—The following taxes, fees, and charges in the nature of tax are deemed to be internal-revenue taxes:

(a)  The cedula tax.
(b)   The documentary tax.
(c) The privilege taxes on business or occupation.
(d) Specific taxes on manufactured products.
(e) Taxes on resources of banks, receipts of insurance companies, and receipts of corporations paying a franchise tax.
(f)   Charges for forest products.
(g)  Fees for testing and sealing weights and measures.
(h)  Internal revenue, including the income tax.
(i)  Ad valorem tax on the output of mines.
(j) The tax on inheritances, legacies and other acquisitions mortis causa."
SEC. 3. Section twenty-two hundred and forty-three of the same Act is hereby amended by adding thereto a new subsection (r), which shall read as follows:

(r)   To regulate and fix the license fees for signs, signboards, and billboards displayed or maintained in any place exposed to public view except those displayed at the place or places where the profession or business   advertised thereby is in whole or part conducted."

SEC. 4. A new section is hereby inserted between sections twenty-two hundred and forty-three and twenty-two hundred and forty-four of Act Numbered Twenty-seven hundred and eleven, which shall be known as section twenty-two hundred and forty-three (A) and shall read as follows:
"SEC. 2243. (A). Restrictive provision.—No commercial sign, signboard, or billboard shall be erected or displayed on public lands, premises, or buildings. If after due investigation, and having given the owners an opportunity to be heard, the municipal president shall decide that any sign, signboard, or billboard displayed or exposed to public view is offensive to the sight or is otherwise a nuisance, he may order the removal of such sign, signboard, or billboard, and if same is not removed within ten days after he has issued such order he may himself cause its removal, and the sign, signboard, or billboard shall thereupon be forfeited to the municipality, and the expenses incident to the removal of the same shall become a lawful charge against any person or property liable for the erection or display thereof."
SEC. 5. Subsection (k) of section twenty-three hundred and seventy-six of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"(k) License public carriages, carts, and hearses kept for hire; cafes, restaurants, hotels, inns, and lodging houses; horse races; license, regulate, or prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors, subject to other provisions of law in such matters provided; and to regulate and license signs, signboards, and billboards displayed or maintained in any place exposed to public view, except those displayed at the place or places where the profession or business advertised thereby is in whole or part conducted."
SEC. 6. A new section is hereby inserted between sections twenty-three hundred and seventy-six and twenty-three hundred and seventy-seven of Act Numbered Twenty-seven hundred and eleven, which shall be known as section twenty-three hundred and seventy-six (A) and shall read as follows:
"SEC. 2376 (A).—Restrictive provisions.—No commercial sign, signboard, or billboard shall be erected or displayed on public lands, premises, or buildings. If after due investigation, and having given the owners an opportunity to be heard, the township president shall decide that any sign, signboard, or billboard displayed or exposed to public view is offensive to the sight or is otherwise a nuisance, he may order the removal of such sign, signboard, or billboard, and if same is not removed within ten days after he has issued such order he may himself cause its removal, and the sign, signboard, or billboard shall thereupon be forfeited to the township, and the expenses incident to the removal of the same shall become a lawful charge against any person or property liable for the erection or display thereof."
SEC. 7. Subsection (bb) of section twenty-four hundred and forty-four of Act Numbered Twenty-seven hundred and eleven, as amended by section eight of Act Numbered Twenty-sever hundred and seventy-four, is hereby amended to read as follows:
"(bb) To declare, prevent, and provide for the abatement of nuisances; to regulate the ringing of bells and the making of loud or unusual noises; to provide that owners, agents or tenants of buildings or premises keep and maintain the same in sanitary condition, and that in case of failure to do so, after sixty days from the date of serving a written notice, the cost thereof be assessed to the owner to the extent of not to exceed sixty per centum of the assessed value, which cost shall constitute a lien against the property, and to regulate or prohibit or fix the license fees for the use of property on or near public ways, grounds, or places, or elsewhere within the city, for a display of electric signs or the erection or maintenance of billboards or structures of whatever material, erected, maintained, or used for the display of posters, signs, or other pictorial or reading matter, except signs displayed at the place or places where the profession or business advertised thereby is in whole or part conducted."
SEC. 8. A new section is hereby inserted between sections twenty-four hundred and forty-four and twenty-four hundred and forty-five, which shall be known as section twenty-four hundred and forty-four (A) and shall read as follows:
"SEC. 2444 (A). Restrictive provisions.—No commercial sign, signboard, or billboard shall be erected or displayed on public lands, premises, or buildings. If after due investigation, and having given the owners an opportunity to be heard, the mayor of the city shall decide that any sign, signboard, or billboard displayed or exposed to public view is offensive to the sight or is otherwise a nuisance, he may order the removal of such sign, signboard, or billboard, and if same is not removed within ten days after he has issued such order he may himself cause its removal, and the sign, signboard, or billboard shall thereupon be forfeited to the city, and the expenses incident to the removal of the same shall become a lawful charge against any person or property liable for the erection or display thereof."
SEC. 9. Subsection (c) of section twenty-five hundred and fifty-three of Act Numbered Twenty-seven hundred and eleven is hereby amended to read as follows:
"(c) To issue licenses fixing the amount of the license fee for the following: Hawkers, peddlers, hucksters, not including hucksters or peddlers who sell only native vegetables, fruits, or foods, personally carried by the huckster or peddler, auctioneers, plumber, barbers, embalmers, collecting agencies, mercantile agencies, transportation companies and agencies, advertising agents, tattooers, hotels, clubs, restaurants, lodging houses, boarding houses, livery stables, boarding stables, laundries, cleaning and dyeing establishments, establishments for the storage of highly combustible or explosive materials, public warehouses, dance halls, circus and other similar parades, public vehicles, horse races, bowling alleys, pawnbrokers, dealers in second-hand merchandise, junk dealers, billiard tables, theaters, theatrical performances and all other performances and places of amusement, shooting galleries, slot machines not used for gaming, and merry-go-rounds; to license, regulate, or prohibit the selling, giving away, or disposing in any manner of any intoxicating, spirituous, vinous, or fermented liquors, and determine the amount to be paid for such licenses; to regulate and license signs, signboards, and billboards displayed or maintained in any place exposed to public view, except those displayed at the place or places where the professions or business advertised thereby is in whole or part conducted.

"But nothing in this section shall be held to repeal or modify the provisions of law prohibiting the sale, gift, or other disposal of intoxicating liquors, other than native wines and liquors, to non-Christian inhabitants.

"If after due investigation the mayor shall decide that any person licensed under the provisions of this subsection is abusing his license and privilege to the injury of the public morals or peace or that any place so licensed has been or is conducted in a disorderly or unlawful manner, or is a nuisance, or is permitted to be used as a resort for disorderly characters, criminals, or women of ill repute he may by order summarily revoke such license, subject to appeal to the Department Head, whose action on the appeal shall be final. Such revocation shall operate to forfeit to the city all sums which may have been paid for said license and to prohibit the issuance to the person whose license is so revoked of any other license for a term which may be fixed in said order."
SEC. 10. A new section is hereby inserted between sections twenty-five hundred and fifty-three and twenty-five hundred and fifty-four, which shall be known as section twenty-five hundred and fifty-three (A) and shall read as follows:
"SEC. 2553 (A). Restrictive provisions.—No commercial sign, signboard, or billboard shall be erected or displayed on public lands, premises, or buildings. If after due investigation, and having given the owners an opportunity to be heard, the mayor shall decide that any sign, signboard, or billboard displayed or exposed to public view is offensive to the sight or is otherwise a nuisance, he may order the removal of such sign, signboard, or billboard, and if same is not removed within ten days after he has issued such order he may himself cause its removal, and the sign, signboard, or billboard shall thereupon be forfeited to the city, and the expenses incident to the removal of the same shall become a lawful charge against any person or property liable for the erection or display thereof."
SEC. 11. Subsection (d) of section twenty-six hundred and twenty-five of Act Numbered Twenty-seven hundred and eleven is hereby amended to read as follows:
"(dLicenses and license fee.—To issue licenses fixing, the amount of the license fee for the following:

"Hawkers, peddlers, hucksters, not including hucksters or peddlers who sell only native vegetables, fruits, or foods, personally carried by the huckster or peddler, auctioneers, plumbers, barbers, tailor shops, bakeries, manicuring establishments, massage parlors, embalmers, collecting agencies, mercantile agencies, transportation companies and agencies, advertising agents, tattooers, hotels, clubs, restaurants, lodging houses, boarding houses, livery stables, boarding stables, laundries, cleaning and dyeing establishments, establishments for the storage of highly combustible or explosive materials, public warehouses, circus and other similar parades, public vehicles, bicycles, horse races, bowling alleys, pawnbrokers, dealers in second-hand merchandise, junk dealers, billiard tables, theaters, theatrical performances and all other performances and places of amusements, shooting galleries, slot machines not used for gaming, and merry-go-rounds.

"To regulate, license or prohibit dance halls; and the selling, giving away, or disposing, in any manner of any intoxicating, spirituous, vinous, or fermented liquors, and to regulate and license signs, signboards, and billboards displayed or maintained in any place exposed to public view, except those displayed at the place or places where the profession or business advertised thereby is in whole or part conducted, and fix the sum to be paid for such licenses.

"But nothing in this section shall be held to repeal or modify the provisions of law prohibiting the sale, gift or other disposal of intoxicating liquors, other than native wines and liquors, to non-Christian inhabitants.

"If after due investigation the president shall decide that any person licensed under the provisions of this subsection is abusing his license and privilege to the injury of the public morals or peace or that any place so licensed has been or is conducted in a disorderly or unlawful manner, or is a nuisance, or is permitted to be used as a resort for disorderly characters, criminals, or women of ill repute, he may by order summarily revoke such license, subject to appeal to the provincial governor, whose action on the appeal shall be final. Such revocation shall operate to forfeit to the municipality all sums which may have been paid for said license and to prohibit the issuance to the person whose license is so revoked of any other license for a term which may be fixed in said order."
SEC. 12. A new section is hereby inserted between sections twenty-six hundred and twenty-five and twenty-six hundred and twenty-six of Act Numbered Twenty-seven hundred and eleven, which shall be known as section twenty-six hundred and twenty-five (A) and shall read as follows:
"SEC. 2625 (A). Restrictive provisions.—No commercial sign, signboard, or billboard shall be erected or displayed on public lands, premises, or buildings. If after due investigation, and having given the owners an opportunity to be heard, the municipal president shall decide that any sign, signboard, or billboard, displayed or exposed to public view is offensive to the sight or is otherwise a nuisance, he may order the removal of such sign, signboard, or billboard, and if same is not removed within ten days after he has issued such order he may himself cause its removal, and the sign, signboard, or billboard shall thereupon be forfeited to the municipality, and the expenses incident to the removal of the same shall become a lawful charge against any person or property liable for the erection or display thereof."'
SEC. 13. The license fees for signs, signboards or billboards imposed by municipalities, cities or townships by virtue of the authority herein conferred shall not be collected from persons who paid the internal-revenue tax there for prior to the date on which the ordinance establishing such fees took effect, until upon expiration of the period for which the tax has already been paid.

SEC. 14. This Act shall take effect on April first, nineteen hundred and nineteen.

Approved, March 4, 1919.
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