Act No. 35 (Moro Province)
By authority of the Philippine Commission, be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Moro Province, that:
Act No. 82 of the Philippine Commission, entitled “The Municipal Code,” as amended, is hereby amended in its application to the Moro Province, to read as follows:
Chapter I. ― General provisions.
Section 1.
The municipalities of the Moro Province organized previous to the going into effect of this act, under the provisions of act No. 82 of the Philippine Commission, entitled “The Municipal Code,” as amended by act No. 21 of the Legislative Council of the Moro Province, are continued and recognized as municipal corporations under this act, with the same boundaries as now existing de jure or de facto. District boards shall investigate disputes as to the jurisdiction of the municipal governments over places or barrios arising within their respective districts, and shall forward the evidence, together with their recommendations, to the Governor of the Moro Province. The Governor of the Moro Province may require the submission of such further evidence as he may deem necessary, and may, in his discretion, direct the Engineer of the Moro Province to make a survey of the places or barrios in dispute. The Governor's decision in the matter shall be final.
Sec. 2.
(a) Except as hereinafter provided this act shall not apply to such settlements of Moro or other non-Christian tribes as may be segregated into tribal wards and for which legislation shall be enacted.
(b) The jurisdiction of the municipal government shall extend at all times to the persons and property of Moros or other non-Christians not having their legal residences within a tribal ward, and to the persons and property of Christians and foreign non-Christians, whether residing within a tribal ward or otherwise, without regard to the limits of tribal wards; and for this purpose only, stich tribal wards, or such part thereof as may lie within the municipality, shall be included within the boundaries of one or more of the barrios of the municipality.
(c) Members of Moro or other non-Christian tribes residing within a tribal ward while temporarily absent from such ward and within the limits of a municipality, whether within the limits of another tribal ward or not, shall be subject to the jurisdiction of such municipality as fully and to the same extent as are other transients.
(d) In cases of the violation of municipal ordinances or regulations by members of Moro or other non-Christian tribes while without the limits of their ward and within the limits of the municipality, the process of the municipal president while sitting as a municipal court as hereinafter provided shall run throughout the municipality without regard to the limits of the tribal wards.
(e) Where the members of Moro or other non-Christian tribes residing within the limits of any municipality are so intermingled with the Christian and foreign non-Christian inhabitants that it is practicable to separate them into tribal wards the governor of the district in which the municipality is situated shall, in naming the appointive members of the municipal council, appoint such number of members of such tribes that such tribes shall be represented in the municipal council as nearly as possible in proportion to their respective populations. In making the appointments, the governor of the district shall, when practicable, give preference to the local headmen of such tribes.
(f) The local headman of each tribal ward within the limits, or partly within the limits, of any municipality, when duly constituted as such by lawful authority, shall by virtue of his office become an honorary member of the municipal council of the municipality. He may, if he desires, attend any regular or special meeting of the council. He may propose measures affecting the general welfare of the municipality, and1 shall be heard on any measure pending before the council; but he shall not be entitled to a vote thereon.
(g) Any member of a Moro or other non-Christian tribe residing in a tribal ward may, upon personal application to the district governor and upon establishing his identity to the satisfaction of said governor, be transferred from membership in such tribal ward to regular citizenship in the municipality, and shall thereafter be subject to the jurisdiction of the municipality as fully and to the same extent as Christians or foreign non-Christians resident in tribal wards of the municipality. The district governor shall issue to such applicant a certificate of municipal citizenship and shall forward a duplcate thereof to the municipal secretary, who shall preserve the same in his records.
Sec. 3.
(a) Municipalities incorporated under this act shall be known respectively by the names adopted by the Legislative Council of the Moro Province. Under such names they may sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with, acquire and hold real and personal property for the general interests of the municipality, and exercise all the powers hereinafter conferred upon them.
(b) All property and property rights vested in any municipality under its former organization shall continue to be vested in the same municipality as incorporated under this act.
Sec. 4.
The government of each municipality established under this act is hereby vested in a president, a vice-president, and a municipal council, which shall be composed in each municipality of twelve councillors. The president and one-half of the councillors shall be chosen at large by the qualified electors of the municipality and one-half of the councillors shall be appointed by the governor of the district in which it is situated, with the advice of the Legislative Council. The term of office of councillors shall be for two years from and after the first Monday in January next after their election or appointment and until their successors are duly chosen and qualified.
Sec. 5.
The municipality shall be divided into barrios and the limits of such barrios shall be clearly defined, as hereinafter provided in section 38. For administrative purposes the barrios may be grouped into municipal districts. The number of such municipal districts in the muncipality shall be equal to the number of councillors, including the vice-president
CHAPTER II. ― Qualification of electors; Elections.
Sec. 6.
The entire Island of Cagayan de Sulu and its dependencies shall constitute the municipality of Cagayan de Sulu.
Sec. 4.
The municipalities of Jolo, Siassi and Cagayan de Sulu shall be recognized as municipal corporations. They may sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with, and acquire and hold real and personal property for the general interests of the municipality. All property and property rights vested in any of said municipalities under its former organization shall continue to be vested in the same municipality after its incorporation under this act. They shall be subject to and governed by the following provisions of the Municipal Code of the Moro Province: Section 17; section 18; subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (j), (n), and (o) of section 19; subsections (a) and (d) of section 20; section 21; section 22; section 30; section 31; section 32; subsection (a) of section 33; section 35; section 36; subsection (b) of section 39; section 40; section 41; except subsection (b) thereof; section 42, except subsection (a) thereof; section 43; chapter V and section 73.
Sec. 5.
In each of the municipalities of Jolo, Siassi and Cagayan de Sulu there shall be a president, a vice-president, a secretary, two councillors and a treasurer, all of whom shall be appointed by the Governor of the District of Sulu and hold office during his pleasure, except the treasurer as to whose appointment, removal, qualifications, salary and duties the provisions of subsection (l) of section 19 and subsection (a) of section 23 of the Municipal Code of the Moro Province shall apply. All other municipal officers and employees authorized by the municipal council shall be appointed and may be suspended, reinstated or removed by the president, subject in every instance to the approval of the District Governor. The president, vice-president, secretary and councillors and their lieutenants shall receive no compensation.
Sec. 6.
The electors charged with the duty of choosing elective municipal officers, shall be male persons, twenty-three years of age or over, who have had a legal residence in the municipality in which they exercise the suffrage for a period of six months immediately preceding the election, and who are not citizens or subjects of any foreign power, and who are comprised within one of the following three classes:
(a) Those who, prior to the thirteenth of August, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, held the office of municipal captain, gobernadorcillo, alcalde, lieutenant, cabeza de barangay or member of any ayuntamiento. (b) Those who own real property to the value of five hundred pesos, or who annually pay thirty pesos or more of, the established taxes.
(c) Those who speak, read and write English, Spanish, or any of the Moro languages.
Provided, that officers, soldiers and sailors or marines of the Army and Navy of the United States shall not be considered as having acquired legal residence within the meaning of this section by reason of their having been stationed in the municipality for the required six months; nor shall Moros or other non-Christians acquire legal residence within the meaning of this section by reason of their residence for the required six months in a tribal ward within the limits of the municipality unless they shall have applied for and procured certificates of municipal citizenship in accordance with subsection (g) of section 2 of this act.
Sec. 7.
Each elector shall, before casting his ballot, take and subscribe the following elector’s oath, which shall be administered by the municipal secretary with whom it shall be filed: