Republic Act No. 2277

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:

Section 1

Section one of Republic Act Numbered Seventeen hundred eighty-four is hereby amended to read as follows:

Sec. 1. There is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of five million pesos for the relief and aid of fire victims in Catbalogan, Province of Samar: Provided, However, That out of the said sum, the amount of three million pesos shall be set aside and used for reclaiming foreshore lands bordering the Municipality of Catbalogan, Province of Samar. The remaining two million pesos shall be distributed by the Philippine National Red Cross as relief and aid to the fire victims in said municipality under such terms and conditions as may be just and equitable."

Section 2. The said Act is hereby further amended by inserting two new sections between sections one and two thereof to read as follows:

Sec. 1-A. Subject to pertinent provisions of law and regulations enforced, authority is hereby granted to the Office of the District Engineer, Province of Samar, to undertake and carry out the reclamation by dredging, filling and/or by other means, any foreshore lands bordering the Municipality of Catbalogan, Province of Samar.

Sec. 1-B. Any and all lands reclaimed as herein provided, shall be the property of the Municipality of Catbalogan, Province of Samar: Provided, That such lands shall be leased, sold or disposed of, giving priority to the fire victims of Catbalogan, Samar, in the year nineteen hundred and fifty-seven whose annual income is less than two thousand pesos, and shall be leased, sold or disposed of in any other manner in accordance with existing laws, except that the new foreshore along the reclaimed lands shall continue to be the property of the National Government: Provided, further, That the proceeds thereof shall constitute as a trust fund to be used for the repair and improvements of the area destroyed by the conflagration in a manner as the Municipal Council of Catbalogan shall determine."

Section 3

This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 19, 1959.