continuation thereof and to be in the nature of amendments thereto, without prejudice to any right already accr ued. SECTION  4 . Authority of Officer to Act Through Deputy . — A ministerial act which may be lawfully done by any officer may be performed by him through any deputy or agent lawfully created or appointed. SECTION  5 . Exercise of Administrative Discretion . — The exercise of the permissive powers of all executive or administrative officers and bodies is based upon discretion, and when such officer or body is given authority to do any act but not required to do  such act, the doing of the same shall be dependent on a sound discretion to be exercised for the good of the service and benefit of the public, whether so expressed in the statute giving the authority or not. SECTION  6 . Form of Enacting Clauses . — The enacting clause of all statutes passed by the Philippine Legislature shall be:  By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Legislature, that ; and the enacting clause of all statutes passed b y the Philippine Commission, in its separate legislative capacity, shall be:  By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that . [J. R. 3, First Legislature.]  SECTION  7 . Numbering and Frame of Sections . — Every Act shall be divided into sections, each of which shall be numbered and shall contain, as nearly as may be, a single proposition of enactment. [See U. S. Rev. Stat., sec. 10.] SECTION  8 . Manner of Referring to Statutes . — Statutes passed by the Philippine Legislature or the Philippine Commission shall, for purposes of formal reference, be denominated Acts and may be identified by their respective serial numbers; but where a spec ial title is supplied for a particular statute, it may also be referred to by such title. [See 6-1; 2000-1.] SECTION  9 . When Laws Take Effect. —  A statute passed by the Philippine Legislature or by the Philippine Commission shall, in the absence of special provision, take effect at the beginning of the fifteenth day after the completion of the publication of the  statute in the Official Gazette, the date of issue being excluded. For the purpose of fixing such date the Gazette is conclusively presumed to be published on the day indicated therein as the date of Copyright 2012 CD Technologies Asia, Inc. and Accesslaw, Inc. Philippine Law Encyclopedia 2011 3