PASSPORTS.

The number of passports issued during the fiscal year was 1,713, as against 1,261 issued during the fiscal year 1915, as follows:

The number of passports issued is still gradually increasing on account of the European war. As stated in the last annual report, people traveling abroad are required by steamship companies to produce passports before transportation tickets are issued to them, and for this reason Americans and Filipinos, except those traveling on United States Army transports, are forced to obtain passports before leaving the islands.

EXTRADITIONS.

Only one extradition case was handled during 1916. The fugitive having been located in the United States, the application for extradition was sent thereto.

PARDONS.

The total number of pardon cases handled during the period covered by this report was 1,130, classified as follows:

CASES HANDLED.

Petitions pending decision or under investigation on Dec. 31, 1915..
Petitions received during 1916..............

Cases acted on at the recommendation of the trial judge, director of prisons, etc., without petition from the interested parties..

Petitions for pardon made orally.

75

877

162

16

1, 130

Only one reprieve was issued during the year.

EXECUTIVE ORDERS AND PROCLAMATIONS.

This bureau prepared during the fiscal year 1916, 101 executive orders, of which 36 affected land reservations, and 23 proclamations.

SUPERVISION OVER PROVINCIAL AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS.

In the exercise of this power, the undersigned has always endeavored and it is believed has succeeded to make the local governments feel that they are autonomous bodies and that their autonomy is recognized and respected by this bureau. As is expected of the executive bureau, however, it has taken full advantage of the provision of law conferring upon the Governor General the power of supervision, through the executive bureau, over the governments of Provinces, chartered cities, municipalities, and other local political divisions, to suggest to the local governments whatever measure was considered would be conducive to their general welfare. In doing this the bureau has always acted considerately.

As head office of the local governments, the assistance and cooperation of the executive bureau are frequently sought by other branches of the government in connection with the work undertaken by them in the Provinces. The clean-up week and the food campaign are good examples.

NUMBER OF PROVINCES, MUNICIPALITIES, AND TOWNSHIPS.

The number of Provinces in the Philippine Islands on December 31, 1916, was the same as that shown in the last report of the executive bureau as follows:

At the close of the year, there were 761 municipalities, five more than the number reported last year, while the number of townships (83) remained unchanged.

MUNICIPAL AND TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.

During the year the organization of the following municipalities in the Provinces given in parentheses was authorized, effective January 1, 1917:

Limay (Bataan), Bustos (Bulacan), Dasmariñas (Cavite), Alcoy and Madridejos (Cebu), Ajuy (Iloilo), Aloran (Misamis), Laur (Nueva Ecija), Pulupandan (Occidental Negros), Mayantoc (Tarlac), and Laguimanoc (Tayabas).

The township of Looc in the Province of Mindoro was also organized, effective January 1, 1917, while the township of Nueva Era in Ilocos Norte was organized, effective July 1, 1916.

By Act No. 2618, the townships in the Province of Ilocos Sur and the subprovince of Abra were authorized to decide by means of a plebiscite whether or not they were to be converted into municipalities. The records of this office show that only two townships-Bato and Nueva Coveto-took advantage of that act. These two townships agreed to unite and form a municipality under the name of Burgos. Pursuant to the provisions of section 4 of said act, the organization of Burgos into a municipality took effect on January 1,

1917.

Before authorizing the creation of new municipalities or the reorganization of former municipalities, it is required of the inhabitants

interested to provide the proposed new municipalities with the land needed for various municipal purposes, consisting of a public plaza, a municipal building site, a school site, a market site, and a cemetery. The public plaza must be located in the central part of the municipality and must contain not less than 1 hectare. The site for the municipal building must be located along one side of the plaza with a front equal to the side of the plaza it adjoins and a depth of about 50 meters. The school site must be located at some distance from the plaza and must contain also at least 1 hectare. The market site must be removed from both the plaza and the school and must be situated on the bank of a river or on a main highway, wherever it would be most accessible to the business community; and must contain, if possible, 1 hectare. For cemetery purpose a piece of land meeting all the requirements of the health authorities is required. After years of experience in handling petitions for new municipal reorganizations it has been found to be the better policy to require the petitioners to provide the new municipality with the land needed for various municipal purposes rather than to erect buildings, for the reason that buildings constructed by the inhabitants usually fall short of meeting the requirements of the municipality, whether for municipal offices or for school or market purposes. It is believed also to be a greater burden upen the people to erect these buildings rather than to provide the sites named above, and for that reason the undersigned has abandoned the policy of making the construction of public buildings a prerequisite to separation. The time when separation is being agitated by the local inhabitants is the most opportune to secure donation of the sites desired with properly accomplished deeds rather than after separation when enthusiasm has subsided or entirely disappeared. The policy pursued during the last fiscal year has been that of liberality toward petitions for separation of former municipalities and their reorganization as independent entities or for the establishment of new municipalities. As a rule, no municipalities having a probable income of less than 3,000 accruing to the general fund have been set up.

USE OF ENGLISH.

Although English is the official language in the Philippine Islands, except in the courts, Spanish continued to be in general use in the provincial and municipal governments. This gave rise to complaints received by the department of public instruction from persons educated in the public schools, in view of which the Governor General, on August 8, 1912, issued an executive order requiring of officers and employees under the administrative control of the chief executive or any of the executive departments:

(1) That whenever possible the minutes of the meetings of provincial boards and municipal councils be kept in English.

(2) That all official correspondence, whether to government officials or to private individuals, be written in English.

(3) That in making appointment or promotions in the service preference be given to persons having a sufficient knowledge of the English language to enable them to carry on correspondence in English.

However, being aware that it was not possible to make the requirements absolute, a proviso was inserted in the order to the effect that in cases where it is not practicable to carry them out, officers

cases.

should make representation of the facts to the executive secretary, who was empowered in his discretion to modify the rule in such As was to be expected, upon receipt of the order, municipal and provincial governments made representation to this office concerning their inability to adopt the English language, and requested permission to continue using the Spanish language both for the recording of their minutes and for official correspondence. With respect to the municipal governments, this office has invariably permitted the use of the Spanish language until such time as it might be practicable for them to secure the services of employees capable of using the English language. At present various municipal governments have English speaking employees and are using the English language as contemplated by the executive order above mentioned. As regards the provincial governments, permission to continue using the Spanish language has been granted for periods varying from six months to one year. In almost all the cases, the permission granted had to be extended from time to time for similar periods because of the inability of the provincial officials concerned to acquire a working knowledge of English. Nearly all the permissions granted the provincial governments to use the Spanish language expired before or immediately after the assumption of office on October 16, 1916, of the provincial officials elected at the last general elections. All requests for renewal received, including that from the city of Manila, were denied on the ground that the provincial governments concerned had or should have employees capable of writing English and translating the same into Spanish; and that the majority of the provincial boards had adopted the English language as contemplated in the order, with success, notwithstanding the fact that at the beginning only one of the three members of the board understood that language.

PROVINCIAL OVERDRAFTS.

Owing to unforeseen expenditures, but expenditures which later proved to be of very urgent character, several Provinces were obliged to incur expenses somewhat in excess of their incomes for the year. The consequence was that those Provinces had to overdraw their accounts to a certain extent. The overdrafts in the general funds amounted to P39,532.43, distributed as follows:

Cavite.

Ilocos Sur..

Laguna..

Pampanga..

Tayabas..

Total.....

P14, 226. 31 500,00 8, 000, 00 4,000. 00 12, 806. 12

39, 532. 43

In the road and bridge funds the overdraft amounted to P92,951.33, distributed as follows:

Only the Province of Albay showed an overdraft in the health fund and that was in the amount of P3,500.

The amounts of overdraft shown above may be said to be the irreducible minimum, as before granting authority to show these overdrafts in their accounts the provincial officers concerned were strictly enjoined to eliminate all expenses that were not of urgent character. In the Province of Cavite an overdraft was the outcome and continuance of unsatisfactory financial condition which has existed for a number of years and may trace its causes partly to the general revision of assessments which is now in progress in Cavite, as in the other regular Provinces, and which, of course, represents an extraordinary expenditure to the Province. It was anticipated in September, 1916, that the amount of overdraft would be approximately P22,000. The fact that the actual figure was only P14,236.21 at the end of the year speaks highly of the manner in which the officials of Cavite were able to control their expenditures.

The overdrafts in the road and bridge funds are explained by the urgent necessity of making certain repairs to roads and bridges, which, if not attended to at the proper time, would have cost the Government later considerably more, and of completing certain public works already commenced, and which, if not finished during the time set, would have meant not only inconvenience but additional cost as well. Under those conditions the incurring of overdraft was certainly amply justified.

The overdraft in the health fund of Albay was caused by the presence of cholera in the subprovince of Catanduanes. In this case, of course, the raising of necessary funds immediately was of such urgent necessity that the overdraft had to be sanctioned.

REAL PROPERTY ASSESSMENTS.

The general revision of real property assessments was completed in 1915 in the Provinces of Bataan, Isabela, and Zambales. La Union and Occidental Negros were completed in 1916. According to present calculations, the Provinces of Albay, Antique, Batangas, Bulacan, Cagayan, Cavite, Ilocos Norte, Laguna, Misamis, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Rizal, Surigao, and Tarlac will be completed in 1917, while the Provinces of Ambos Camarines, Bohol, Ilocos Sur, Iloilo, Oriental Negros, Samar, and Sorsogon in 1918, and Capiz, Cebu, Leyte, Pangasinan, and Tayabas in 1919.

The number of municipalities whose revision was finished in 1915 and prior years is 290, and the number of municipalities revised in 1916 is 167; total, 457.

Before the general revision of assessments provided for in Act No. 2238 was undertaken, the number of taxable parcels was 1,947,486, assessed at P298,907,970. At the end of 1916 the number of taxable parcels and their assessed valuation was 2,735,823 and P520,760,740, respectively, thus showing an increase of 788,337 parcels and P221,852,770 in assessed valuation. The percentage of increase in parcels is 40 and the percentage of increase in valuation is 74. The three Provinces ranking highest in the increase of percentage of parcels obtained are Bohol, Leyte, and Rizal, while the ranking according to percentage of increase of assessed valuation is Bohol, Leyte, and Oriental Negros.