AN ACT PROVIDING FOR NEW CLASSIFICATION OF PROVINCES AND CITIES AND FIXING THE RATES OF SALARIES OF THE OFFICIALS THEREOF AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

REPUBLIC ACT No. 4477

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR NEW CLASSIFICATION OF PROVINCES AND CITIES AND FIXING THE RATES OF SALARIES OF THE OFFICIALS THEREOF AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

Section 1. Classification of Provinces and Cities. Provinces and cities, except Manila, Quezon City and the City of Trece Martires are divided into seven classes according to their average income during the last four fiscal years, as follows:

Section 2. Classification under this Act. Upon approval of this Act and for each period of four consecutive fiscal years thereafter, the Secretary of Finance shall classify all provinces and cities except Manila, Quezon City and the City of Trece Martires, on the basis of the average total revenue of each province or city during the last four consecutive fiscal year immediately preceding such classification according to the provisions of this Act as certified by the Auditor General: Provided, That the first classification shall take effect July first, nineteen hundred and sixty-five: Provided, further, That a province or city which has been in existence for a period of less than four full fiscal years immediately preceding the initial classification herein provided shall be classified on the basis of its average income during such lesser number of full fiscal years or year immediately following its organization as such province or city: And provided, finally, That no readjustment of classification shall be made oftener than once in four consecutive fiscal years after the first classification provided in this Act, except in cases of diminishing revenues when the Secretary of Finance may, in his discretion, order at any time the readjustment of the classification of any province or city in accordance with the foregoing schedule.

Section 3. Section twenty hundred sixty-seven-B of the Administrative Code, as amended by Republic Act Numbered Thirty-seven hundred nineteen, is further amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 2067-B. Salaries of provincial officials. The annual salaries of the provincial officials and their assistants herein mentioned shall be as hereinbelow fixed:

Section 4. Section two of Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred forty, as amended by Republic Act Numbered Thirty-seven hundred nineteen, is further amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 2. Unless the corresponding charter of a city or other special law provides for higher salaries, the annual salaries of the city officials and their assistant mentioned herein shall be as hereinbelow fixed:

Section 5. General limitation upon amount expendable for salaries and wages. Except as hereinbelow provided, the amount expendable for salaries and wages of provincial and city officials and employees shall not exceed the following percentages of the ordinary and regular income that accrued to the general fund during the preceding fiscal year, exclusive of all balances carried forward from preceding fiscal years, transfers from other funds, and all receipts from loans, aid or gifts from government or private funds:

In case the current income of the general fund is less than that which accused to the same fund during the preceding fiscal year, the percentages fixed in the preceding paragraph shall be based on the reduced income for the current fiscal year.

The Secretary of Finance may authorize any province or city to exceed the percentages hereinabove fixed under such conditions as he may impose.

Section 6. The rates of salaries fixed herein for the city officials in First Class-A cities as provided in Section four hereof shall be applicable to Quezon City in cases where such rates of salaries are higher than those now provided by existing laws for the officials of said city: Provided, That this Act shall not apply to the cities of Manila and Trece Martires.

Section 7. The incumbent provincial and city officials mentioned in this Act, whose appointments have already been confirmed by the Commission on Appointments prior to the approval of this Act, shall automatically be entitled to the benefits hereof: Provided, That the incumbent provincial and city officials temporarily designated by the President of the Philippines under the provisions of Commonwealth Act Numbered Five hundred eighty-eight shall, unless otherwise stated in their subsisting appointments or designations, likewise be entitled to the full benefits of this Act.

Section 8. All Acts, executive orders, administrative orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof, inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Act, are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

Section 9. This Act shall take effect on July first, nineteen hundred and sixty-five.

Approved: June 19, 1965