WHEREAS, in
the normal course of trading or handling of the interest-bearing
securities issued by the Government, its political subdivisions,
instrumentalities, and wholly owned Government corporations, it is
understandable that some of the securities would be lost or stolen or
so destroyed of defaced as to impair their value to the owners thereof;chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
WHEREAS, while relief is available under Republic Act No. 1533 to
owners of lost, stolen, destroyed or defaced interest-bearing
securities, which are not payable to bearer and which have not been so
assigned as to become, in effect, payable to bearer, no remedy is
provided for those holding bearer securities, expert where such
securities are lost or destroyed in the custody of the Government;chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
WHEREAS, without any legal remedy, owners of lost, stolen, destroyed or
defaced bearer securities would not be able to recover their
investments from which the Government has already profited; chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
WHEREAS, in order to encourage and maintain the patronage and support
by the public of the market for bearer government securities and for
reasons of justice, fairness, and equity, relief should be afforded to
owners of bearer securities which are lost, stolen, destroyed or
defaced in their custody without bad faith or gross negligence on their
part.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines,
by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby
decree and order the following as part of the law of the land:cralaw:red
Section 1. Section 1 of Republic Act Numbered One
thousand five hundred thirty-three is hereby amended to read as follows:cralaw:red
"Sec. 1. Whenever it is clearly shown to the
satisfaction of the Central Bank of the Philippines that any
interest-bearing security issued by the Government of the Philippines,
or any of its political subdivisions, instrumentalities or wholly owned
Government corporations, identified by number and description, has
without bad faith or gross negligence on the part of the owner, been
lost or stolen, so that it is not held by any person as his own
property, or has been wholly or partly destroyed, or so mutilated or
defaced as to impair its value to the owner, the Central Bank of the
Philippines, as fiscal agent, is hereby authorized to grant relief as
hereunder provided —chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
"(a) Where the security is not payable to bearer and
has not been so assigned as to become, in effect, payable to bearer,
the Central Bank of the Philippines shall, in case the security has not
matured or become redeemable pursuant to a call for redemption, issue a
duplicate thereof, having the same time to run, bearing like interest
as the security proved to have, been lost, stolen, destroyed, mutilated
or defaced and so marked as to show the original number and date
thereof, or shall, in case the security has matured or become
redeemable pursuant to a call for redemption, make payment thereof to
the owner, with such interest only as would have been paid had the
security been presented when it became due and payable. chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
"(b) Where the security has been lost, stolen,
mutilated or defaced while the security was in the custody or control
of the Government of the Philippines (not including the Postal Service
when acting solely in its capacity as the public carrier of the mails)
or of a person thereunto authorized as lawful agent of the Government
of the Philippines, the Central Bank of the Philippines shall issue a
duplicate or make payment thereof in line with paragraph (a) above.
"(c) Where the security is payable to bearer, or so
assigned as to become, in effect, payable to bearer, and has been lost,
stolen, destroyed or mutilated under circumstances not failing under
paragraph (b) above, relief may be granted if the attendant
circumstances, in the judgment of the Central Bank of the Philippines,
indicate that the security has been destroyed or irretrievably lost and
will never become the basis of a valid claim against the issuing
Government entity or the Central Bank of the Philippines, and a
sufficient period of time has elapsed after the security has matured or
become redeemable pursuant to a call for redemption. Relief shall be in
the form of payment of the face value of the security together with
interest only as would have been paid had the security been presented
when it became due and payable." chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Section 2. All acts and parts of Acts inconsistent
with the provisions of this Decree are hereby repealed or modified
accordingly.
Section 3. This Decree shall take effect immediately.
DONE in the City of Manila,
this 30th day of January, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and
seventy-five.
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