AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION SIXTY-ONE OF ACT NUMBERED ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX REGARDING SHERIFFS, AS AMENDED, IN ITS APPLICATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF MINDANAO AND SULU, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:
Section 1. Section sixty-one of Act Numbered One hundred and thirty-six, as amended, is hereby reamended in its application to the Department of Mindanao and Sulu, so as to read as follows:
“Section 61. In the Department of Mindanao and Sulu th clerk of the Court of First Instance of each province of said department shall act as ex officio sheriff of his respective province and as such ex officio sheriff he shall serve the process of the Court of First Instance of said province and enforce good order in and about the court room and he shall have the power to appoint deputy sheriffs in any place where he deems necessary.
“The clerk of court as ex officio sheriff or his deputies shall be the legal custodian of the courthouse and the public property therein and he shall have the same fees provided for provincial governors acting as sheriffs under existing provisions of law in the provinces organized under Act Numbered Eighty-three: Provided, That the clerk of court as sheriff shall keep account of all money collected by him or his deputies as sheriff fees, which account shall be subject at all times to examination by the district auditor.
“For the purpose of attending the sessions and enforcing good order m and about the court room, the clerk of court as ex officio sheriff may request the municipal president of the municipality in which the sessions are being held to detail a member of the municipal police to perform such duties. If for any good reason no member of the municipal police can be detailed for this purpose, the clerk of court as ex officio sheriff may appoint a bailiff at a salary not to exceed twenty-five pesos per month, to be paid from the appropriation for the judiciary, for such time as the court may be in session in the province who shall attend the sessions and enforce good order in and about the court room. In those provinces of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu in which there is no clerk of Court of First Instance, the local deputy of the clerk of the said court shall act as ex officio sheriff of his province.
“The clerk of court or his deputies acting as sheriff of the province shall, before being qualified to perform the duties of sheriff or officer of the court, execute a bond, with not less than three sureties, running to the Government of the Philippine Islands, for the benefit of whom it may concern, in such penal sum as shall be fixed by the Insular Auditor. The sureties on said bond shall qualify under oath before the judge of the Court of First Instance, or, in his absence, before a justice of the peace. The bond shall be conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of himself and his deputies as sheriff and officer of the court, and for the payment to the Government or the persons entitled thereto of all sums of money that shall come into his or their hands officially. Its form shall be prescribed by the Insular Auditor, who shall approve and forward it to the Insular Treasurer for file. The bond shall bear an indorsement of the provincial treasurer stating that after due investigation, and to the best of his knowledge and belief, the sureties collectively own real property in double the amount of the bond, free from incumbrances and over and above any liabilities owing by them. The bond shall thereupon be forwarded to the Insular Treasurer and be kept on file in his office. The bond shall be available for the benefit of the Government and of any person in interest. Until the bond has been approved by the Insular Auditor the officer shall not be entitled to any fees for services performed, but the Insular Auditor’s approval shall be effective as of the date of the bond. The clerk of court as ex officio sheriff may require each deputy appointed by him to execute a sufficient indemnity for his protection against any wrong-doing on the part of such deputy.
“In case the clerk of court shall fail to give bond as officer of the court within sixty days after the passage of this Act, it shall be the duty of the judge of the Court of First Instance of the province to appoint, in writing, a suitable person as the officer of the court of the province, and the officer so appointed, upon executing the bond required by the Insular Auditor, shall be the officer of the court of the province, with the same powers in the execution of process and appointment of deputies as the clerk of court would have, had he given the bond required. The person so appointed shall hold office until his successor is duly appointed and qualified, and shall be called the sheriff of the province, and may require such bonds of his deputies.
“The judge of the Court of First Instance of any province where the clerk of court of the province has failed to qualify men by giving bond as an officer of the court is hereby authorized to make a temporary appointment of a sheriff of the province, to serve until a permanent officer of the court of the province shall have been duly appointed in accordance with law. A temporary sheriff so appointed shall have all the powers of a permanent sheriff within his province, including the right to appoint deputies.”
Section 2. This Act shall take effect September first, nineteen hundred and fourteen.
