Republic Act No. 78

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

Section 1

The sum of five million pesos is hereby appropriated out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to constitute a special fund to be known as assessment advance fund to finance a general revision of real property assessments in the provinces and chartered cities. Said fund shall be loaned without interest to the provinces and chartered cities under such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of Finance. Loans granted hereunder shall be repayable in equal annual installments over a period not to exceed twenty years.

Section 2

When the provincial board of any province or the city council of any chartered city desires to take advantage of the provisions of this Act, said board or council shall pass a resolution applying for a loan from the fund herein created, in an amount not to exceed the estimated cost of the proposed revision of assessments as certified by the provincial or city assessor and approved by the Secretary of Finance. The resolution shall authorize the setting aside each year in the provincial or city budget of the required amount for the annual repayment of the loan. The first installment on the loan shall be due and payable not later than the fifteenth day of June following the year the revision of assessments is completed.

The shares of the municipalities in the expenses of the revision shall be paid by them to the provincial treasury within a period to be determined by the provincial board, which in no case shall exceed twenty years as a reimbursement to the province, and for this purpose each municipal council shall set aside each year in its budget the required amount, which shall be payable to the province on or before the first day of June of each year beginning with the year the revision of assessments is completed.

The general revision of real property assessments contemplated in this Act shall be completed within three years from the date the loan is granted.

In case the provincial board or city council shall fail to provide for the repayment of the annual installments as they fall due, or the municipal council shall fail to appropriate the necessary amount chargeable against the municipality, the Auditor General shall have authority to withhold from the share of the province of the city concerned in the internal revenue collections accruing to it, and, in the case of the municipality from its collections, an amount equivalent to the installments due and apply the same to the payment thereof.

Section 3

Any balance of the advance fund herein created not loaned out on or before June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and forty-eight, and all installment payments received on account of loans granted shall revert to the National Treasury.

Section 4

This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: October 21, 1946