REPUBLIC ACT NO. 431 - AN ACT TO AMEND CERTAIN SECTIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-SIX, ENTITLED "THE JUDICIARY ACT OF 1948."

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Sections seven and eight of the Judiciary Act of 1948 are hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 7. Disbursement of funds for judiciary establishment. —Except as otherwise specially provided, national funds available for the judiciary establishment shall be disbursed by the disbursing officer of the Department of Justice.

"SEC. 8. Annual report of clerks of courts. —The clerk of the Supreme Court, the clerk of the Court of Appeals, and all clerks of Courts of First Instance shall make annual reports to the Secretary of Justice, of such scope and in such form as shall be by the latter prescribed, concerning the business done in their respective courts during the year." SEC. 2. Section thirty-eight of the Judiciary Act of 1948 is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 38. Applicability of certain provisions of the Revised Administrative Code to Court of Appeals. —The provisions of sections ten, thirteen, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, and twenty-three of this Act, and eighty-nine of the Revised Administrative Code shall be applicable to the Court of Appeals, in so far as they may be of possible application." SEC. 3. The second paragraph of section forty-nine of the same Act is amended to read as follows:

"The First Judicial District shall consist of the Provinces of Cagayan, Batanes, Isabela, and Nueva Vizcaya, and the Subprovince of Ifugao;" SEC. 4. Section sixty of the Judiciary Act of 1948 is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 60. Division of business among branches of Court of Sixth District. —In the Court of First Instance of the Sixth Judicial District all cases relative to the registration of real estate in the City of Manila and all matters involving the exercise of the powers conferred upon the fourth branch of said court or the judge thereof in reference to the registration of land shall be within the exclusive jurisdiction of said fourth branch and shall go or be assigned thereto for disposition according to law. All other business appertaining to the Court of First Instance of said district shall be equitably distributed among the judges of the ten branches, in such manner as shall be agreed upon by the judges themselves; but in proceeding to such distribution of the ordinary cases a smaller share shall be assigned to the fourth branch, due account beings taken of the amount of land registration work which may be required of this branch.

"Nothing contained in this section and in section sixty-three shall be construed to prevent the temporary designation of judges to act in this district in accordance with section fifty-one." SEC. 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved, June 7, 1950.