EXHIBIT E.

[No. 781.]

AN ACT amending act numbered one hundred and seventy-five, entitled "An act providing for the organization of an insular constabulary and for the inspection of the municipal police," and acts numbered six hundred and ten, six hundred and eighteen, and six hundred and nineteen, amendatory thereof.

By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that: SECTION 1. The civil governor, or the provincial governor with the approval of the civil governor, is hereby authorized, whenever in his judgment the public interest will be subserved thereby, to place the municipal police of the respective municipali ties of any province under the control of the senior inspector of constabulary on duty in the province at the time. The senior inspector in such case is hereby authorized and empowered, under the general supervision of the provincial governor, to control and direct the movements of the municipal police and, with the approval of the provincial governor, to discharge any member of the police force and substitute a fit and suitable resident of the municipality in his place. It shall be the duty of the senior inspector when thus placed in charge of the municipal police of a province to see that they are properly uniformed, drilled, and disciplined. When thus vested with authority over the municipal police he shall see that all lawful orders of the provincial governor, municipal president, and others in authority are executed as provided by the municipal code and amendments thereof, and shall further see that all proper arrests are made for violations of law or municipal ordinances, and in case of emergencies is authorized, under the general supervision of the provincial governor, to unite the forces of the various municipalities of the province in suppressing ladronism or brigandage or other grave violations of the law which threaten the peace of the entire community; and he may also unite the constabulary forces under his command with the municipal forces in the execution of his authority for this

purpose.

SEC. 2. It is hereby made the duty of the provincial board of each and every province to prescribe a suitable uniform for the municipal police of each and every municipality, with a proper insignia to indicate the municipality to which the police belong. Authority is also hereby given the provincial board of each province to fix the number of police which is required to be maintained by each and every municipality of the province. In the event that the provincial board shall find that any municipality is unable properly to uniform and maintain the number of policemen fixed by the provincial board, the latter is authorized to vote necessary aid for the maintenance of such police out of provincial funds. In the event the provincial board should not have provincial funds adequate for this purpose it may apply to the Commission for aid in this behalf.

SEC. 3. Whenever the chief of Philippines Constabulary shall report to the civil governor that in any province the efficiency of the constabulary of the province is being interfered with by frivolous arrests and unfounded prosecutions leading to the imprisonment of members of the constabulary and their unnecessary detention from duty, it shall be in the power of the civil governor, if he finds the report to be well founded, by executive order to make the following section numbered four applicable to the method of arrests in such province instead of the ordinary method of arrests now in force. But until the civil governor shall issue such executive order the section following shall have no force and effect, and it shall cease to have effect as may be provided in said order.

SEC. 4. When in respect to any province the civil governor shall issue the executive order described in the next preceding section, and any officer or member of the Philippine Constabulary shall in such province be charged with the violation of any criminal law or ordinance and a warrant is issued for the arrest of the alleged offender, such warrant shall be placed in the hands of a constabulary officer on

duty in the province for execution; and it shall be the duty of said officer to arrest such person and bring him before the justice of the peace or officer issuing such warrant, to be dealt with as the law directs. No officer or member of the police of a municipality in such province shall have authority to arrest an officer or member of the constabulary upon any criminal charge, save for a criminal offense committed in his presence, and when such offense is committed in his presence it shall be the duty of the municipal officer making the arrest to deliver the prisoner to the nearest constabulary officer on duty in the province with a statement of the cause of the arrest of the offender and the names of the witnesses to the offense; and it shall be the duty of the constabulary officer receiving the prisoner, as soon as practicable, to bring him before a justice of the peace, or the court of first instance of the province, to be dealt with as the law directs. In case the justice of the peace shall bind over any officer or member of the constabulary to answer a criminal charge and the defendant fails to give bail, when the offense is bailable, the defendant shall be delivered to the custody of the senior inspector of constabulary on duty in the province for safe-keeping; and it shall be the duty of the inspector to safely guard and keep the prisoner and produce him before the court of first instance, as required by law, to be dealt with as the law directs; and such prisoner shall be committed to the provincial jail by the inspector, if necessary for safe custody.

SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of all municipal officers, as soon as practicable, to give notice to the provincial governor, or inspector of constabulary in the province, of the presence of any bands of ladrones or brigands or other persons threatening the peace of the community within their jurisdiction, or any act of robbery or theft by such bands, when the offenders are at large; and any violation of the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars and imprisonment not exceeding two years.

SEC. 6. In provinces which are infested to such an extent with ladrones or outlaws that the lives and property of residents in the outlying barrios are rendered wholly insecure by continued predatory raids, and such outlying barrios thus furnish to the ladrones or outlaws their sources of food supply, and it is not possible with the available police forces constantly to provide protection to such barrios, it shall be within the power of the civil governor, upon resolution of the Philippine Commission, to authorize the provincial governor to order that the residents of such outlying barrios be temporarily brought within stated proximity to the población or larger barrios of the municipality, there to remain until the necessity for such order ceases to exist, and during such temporary residence it shall be the duty of the provincial board, out of provincial funds, to furnish such sustenance and shelter as may be needed to prevent suffering among the residents of the barrios thus withdrawn, and in case the provincial funds are not adequate for such purpose application may be made to the Commission for an appropriation to meet the exigency.

SEC. 7. Act Numbered Six hundred and eighteen is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section one the following:

"SEC. 2. The pay of an assistant chief and lieutenant-colonel, not an army officer, shall be not less than two thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars and not exceeding three thousand five hundred dollars per annum, the amount to be fixed, within the limitations above mentioned, by the civil governor. The grade of major and senior inspector is hereby created, at a salary of two thousand dollars per annum. The chief of Philippines Constabulary is hereby authorized and empowered to select from the most meritorious of the captains and senior inspectors of constabulary, not exceeding four in number, officers of this grade. The chief of Philippines Constabulary is further authorized and empowered to increase the pay of ten of the most meritorious and deserving captains and senior inspectors of constabulary from the amount now fixed by law to a sum not exceeding one thousand eight hundred dollars per annum, and he is further authorized to increase the pay of a like number of first lieutenants and inspectors of constabulary to an amount not exceeding one thousand two hundred dollars per annum: Provided, however, That the total number of constabulary officers as now provided by law shall not be increased."

Said act is further amended by changing section two to be section three and section three to be section four.

SEC. 8. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.

SEC. 9. This act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, June 1, 1903.

EXHIBIT F.

TESTIMONY TAKEN AT MALACÑAN PALACE FEBRUARY 16, 1903, RELATIVE TO THE VALUE OF LANDS OWNED BY THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS.

The first witness called was Señor JUAN VILLEGAS, who testified as follows: Governor TAFT. What is your name and age?

Señor VILLEGAS. My name is Juan Villegas, and I am 47 years old.

Governor TAFT. What is your profession?

Señor VILLEGAS. I was an assistant in the department of public works, both local and general, during the Spanish régime.

Governor TAFT. Did that involve any knowledge of surveying?

Señor VILLEGAS. Yes, sir; I am a graduate in that profession.

Governor TAFT. Have you any local familiarity with any of these estates, especially the Imus estate?

Señor VILLEGAS. Yes, sir.

Governor TAFT. Did you while in the employ of the government as established in the Philippine Islands make a survey of the Imus estate?

Señor VILLEGAS. Yes, sir.

Governor TAFT. Did you make this yourself, personally?

Señor VILLEGAS. Yes, sir.

Governor TAFT. Did you make this map here?

Señor VILLEGAS. Yes, sir.

Governor TAFT. What were you directed to do?

Señor VILLEGAS. My orders were to survey the entire two estates of San Juan and San Nicolas.

Governor TAFT. Had you any duty as to valuation?

Señor VILLEGAS. Yes, sir. During the time of the Spanish Government I had made some valuations and I was also ordered by Mr. Legarda to make the valuation of this estate.

Goverror TAFT. Did the making of valuations come within your profession?

Señor VILLEGAS. During the time of the Spanish Government I made some valuations of private properties, but up to the present time I have not made any valuations of haciendas or estates.

Governor TAFT. What do you mean by private properties?

Señor VILLEGAS. I mean the property belonging to private persons and not to corporations.

Governor TAFT. Agricultural or business property?

Señor VILLEGAS. City property.

Governor TAFT. Have you ever made any valuations of agricultural property? Señor VILLEGAS. Yes, sir.

Governor TAFT. How did you get your valuations if you had never had any experience before?

Señor VILLEGAS. It was because I had studied both agriculture and topography at the University of Santo Tomas. My brother during the time of the Spanish Government gave me a great deal of practical work in the shape of surveying and of judging the value of land.

Governor TAFT. Agricultural land?

Señor VILLEGAS. My experience of agricultural land has been with the estate of San Francisco de Malabon and with the estate of Malita. I have been nearly two years in the former place and also a length of time in the second place, and my work as a surveyor and going over this land has given me a knowledge of its valuation. Governor TAFT. Did you prepare a valuation of this land?

Señor VILLEGAS. Yes, sir.

Archbishop GUIDI. Did you make this valuation through your own proper knowledge of the facts?

Señor VILLEGAS. Yes, sir; I made conscientiously, and through my love for the government.

Archbishop GUIDI. How is it, if you have testified that you do not know the present value of the lands, that you are able to make, in view of this assertion, a valuation of the land now? You have declared in your testimony that you do not know the present actual value of this land. How is it possible for you to have made out a valuation of this land in view of your assertion?

Señor VILLEGAS. The valuation has been made according to my knowledge of the value of the lands before the land assessment was placed.

Archbishop GUIDI. But the fact remains that you do not know the present actual value of the lands?

Señor VILLEGAS. I do not know the actual present value of the lands because the valuation has been made since the assessment of the land tax.

Governor TAFT. When was that placed?

Señor VILLEGAS. I believe in the month of July or September-somewhere around that neighborhood-of last year.

Archbishop GUIDI. Do you know if, since the imposition of the land tax, the value of the land has increased, or has decreased?

Señor VILLEGAS. In parts of Luzon it has decreased and in parts it has increased. The decrease is owing to the loss of cattle, while other lands have increased because of the fact that they work at them.

Archbishop GUIDI. That, however, is simply incidental. Is it not true that with the return of plenty of draft cattle the value of the lands will go up?

Governor TAFT. I want to ask when he made the valuation of this land?

Señor VILLEGAS. If I remember correctly, it was either during the month of December, 1901, or in the month of January of 1902.

Governor TAFT. When you made that valuation, did you make the valuation as of that time?

Señor VILLEGAS. Yes, sir.

Archbishop GUIDI. I repeat my first question to you, and I ask you what value did you give to the dollar when you placed the value on these lands?

Señor VILLEGAS. I gave it the same value as the current local value of the peso. Governor TAFT. Two to one?

Señor VILLEGAS. The value is given at its local current value at par with gold. Governor TAFT. What was the current value at that time?

Señor VILLEGAS. Eight reales silver.

Governor TAFT. Do you mean the current value of the peso in December of 1901, and January, 1902?

Señor VILLEGAS. Yes, sir; that is what I mean.

Governor TAFT. Do you remember what it was, how many pesos were worth a gold dollar?

Señor VILLEGAS. They were at par at that time.

Governor TAFT. What do you mean by par?

Señor VILLEGAS. That they were not subject to an exchange, not as they are now,

at 2.66.

Governor TAFT. What was it if it was not 2.66?

Señor VILLEGAS. Equal in value to the Spanish dollar.

Governor TAFT. In January of last year?

Señor VILLEGAS. Either in December of 1901, or January, 1902; yes, sir.

Governor TAFT. Do you mean that you could get a gold dollar for a Mexican peso? Is that what you mean?

Señor VILLEGAS. The peso at that time was not subject to discount as the Mexican peso is to-day. As I understand it, the Mexican peso is worth 64 cents to-day, but at that time it was worth 100 cents.

Governor TAFT. He evidently does not understand us. This was in December of 1901, wasn't it?

Señor VILLEGAS. I started the survey on the 23d of December, 1901, and continued it until it was finished in the month of January, 1902.

Governor TAFT. You have made this assessment in Mexican dollars, haven't you? Señor VILLEGAS. Yes, sir.

Governor TAFT. If you wished to state that, instead of in Mexican dollars, in American dollars, at the time you made this survey, would you estimate it at the same amount in American dollars that you have in Mexican dollars, or not? At the time that you made this survey how many Mexican dollars could you get for an American dollar, gold?