REPUBLIC ACT NO. 4188 - AN ACT
CREATING THE MINDORO DEVELOPMENT BOARD FOR THE AGRICULTURAL AND
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE ISLAND OF MINDORO AND THE BETTERMENT OF
THE INHABITANTS THEREIN, AND AUTHORIZING THE APPROPRIATION OF FUNDS
THEREFOR
Section 1. This Act may be cited as the Mindoro Development
Act of 1965.
Sec. 2. In order to provide for the agricultural
and industrial development of the Island of Mindoro, provide for an
adequate system of provincial and barrio feeder roads; provide for
reforestation and proper use of marginal land; provide for the control
and prevention of floods, the reclamation of marshy and shore lands,
and the application and use of the rivers therein for irrigation,
navigation, and other useful purposes; promote and encourage the
fullest utilization of the resources of the island; develop and enhance
recreational advantages; and in general, promote the betterment of the
inhabitants therein, there is hereby created a body corporate to be
known as the Mindoro Development Board, hereinafter referred to as the
Corporation. It shall have its principal office in Victoria, Oriental
Mindoro.
Sec. 3. All corporate powers of the Corporation
shall be vested in, and exercised by, a Board of Directors consisting
of a chairman and four members who shall be appointed by the President
of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments.
The chairman and members of the Board shall serve for a term of four
years. No member shall be removed from office except for cause. In case
of vacancy for any reason, the person appointed to fill such vacancy
shall serve only for the unexpired term of the member he succeeds. The
chairman shall receive an annual compensation of twelve thousand pesos,
and the members ten thousand pesos each. They shall not, during their
continuance in office, engage in any business or the practice of any
profession, or be financially interested, directly or indirectly, in
any contract with the Corporation, or in any business of generating,
distributing and selling electric power to the general public, or in
the manufacture or distribution of fertilizer, or in any business that
may adversely affect, or be adversely affected by, the success of the
Corporation in any of its agricultural or industrial development
projects.
Sec. 4. The Board shall meet regularly once a
month and hold such other special or emergency meetings as may be
necessary, upon the call of the chairman or at the request of any
member. The presence of the chairman and of the two members shall
constitute a quorum, and the two-thirds vote of the Board shall be
necessary to pass a resolution or to make a resolution.
Sec. 5. The Board shall appoint a manager and such
other officers and employees as may be necessary to carry out its
function and objectives. All officials, agents, and employees of the
Corporation shall be selected and appointed on the basis of merit and
fitness in accordance with a comprehensive and progressive merit system
to be established by the Board immediately upon its organization and in
accordance with civil service rules and regulations. The recruitment,
transfer, promotion and dismissal of all Corporation personnel,
including temporary workers, shall be governed by such merit system.
The manager appointed shall receive an annual compensation of seven
thousand two hundred pesos and be allowed transportation and
representation allowances not exceeding two hundred pesos a month. He
shall be subject to the prohibitions set forth in Section three hereof.
Sec. 6. Except as otherwise specifically provided
in this Act, the Corporation:
(a) Shall have the power of succession;
(b) May sue or be sued in its corporate name and may
settle or adjust claims held by it against other parties or held by
other parties against it;
(c) Shall have the power, in the name of the
Government of the Philippines, to exercise the right of eminent domain
over all properties that it may deem necessary to carry out the
purposes of this Act; and
(d) Shall have the power to enter into such contracts
and agreements, and to exercise such powers and perform such functions
as may be necessary or appropriate to carry out the purpose of the
Corporation.
Sec. 7. The Corporation is hereby authorized:
(a) To acquire by purchase, lease, condemnation, or
donation, such real and personal property and any interest therein, and
may sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of any real and personal property
and any interest therein, as in its judgment may be necessary in
carrying out the purposes of the Corporation under this Act. Title to
all real property or interest therein, whether acquired by condemnation
or otherwise, shall be taken in the name of the Republic of the
Philippines, and thereupon such real property shall, for the purposes
of this Act, be entrusted to the Corporation as agent of the
Government. The Corporation shall not dispose of any real property on
which is located permanent dam, hydraulic power plant, or munitions
plant heretofore or hereafter constructed by or on behalf of the
Government or the Corporation.
(b) To purchase and acquire such materials and other
personal property as may be required to carry out the purposes and
policy of this Act. All purchases and contracts for supplies or
services except for personal services, made by the Corporation shall be
made through public bidding: provided, however, that public bidding
shall not be required when (1) the Board determines that an emergency
requires immediate delivery of the supplies or performance of the
service; or (2) repair parts, accessories, supplemental equipment, or
services are required for supplies or services previously furnished or
contracted for; or (3) the aggregate amount involved in any purchase of
supplies or procurement of services does not exceed five hundred pesos
in which cases such purchases of supplies or procurement of services
may be made in the open market in the manner common among businessmen:
provided, further, that in comparing bids and in making awards, the
Board may consider such factors as relative quality and adaptability of
supplies or services, the bidder's financial responsibility, skill,
experience, record of integrity in dealing, and ability to furnish
repairs and maintenance services, and the time of delivery or
performance offered.
Sec. 8. With the exception of those projects which
are already covered or being undertaken by other government offices or
agencies, the Corporation is hereby authorized:
(a) To construct a system of provincial and/or barrio
feeder roads. The designation and selection of the sites for said
projects shall be made upon previous consultation with the provincial
board and/or municipal council concerned. No amount shall be disbursed
from the appropriation herein provided, for the purpose of acquiring by
purchase the necessary sites for the construction of a system of
provincial and/or barrio feeder roads. The provincial board or
municipal council concerned shall exert efforts to have the property
owners affected donate the necessary sites;
(b) To cooperate with national, provincial and/or
municipal experimental stations for the use of new forms of fertilizers
or fertilizer practices during the initial or experimental period of
their introduction;
(c) To arrange with farmers and farm organizations
for large scale practical use of the new forms of fertilizer under
conditions permitting an accurate measure of the economic return they
produce;
(d) To establish, maintain and operate laboratories
and experimental plants, and to undertake experiments for the purpose
of enabling the Corporation to furnish fertilizer products for
agricultural purposes in the most economical manner and at the highest
standard of efficiency;
(e) To acquire, construct, operate, maintain and
improve dams, dikes, reservoirs, levees, spillways, floodways,
fishways, conduits, powerhouses, steam generating plants, transmission
lines, electric lines, canals, wharves, terminals, and recreation
facilities, and structures, equipment and facilities incidental
thereto;
(f) To produce, distribute and sell electric power
and to make such rules and regulations governing such sale and
distribution of such electric power as in its judgment may be just and
equitable. The Board is hereby authorized and directed to make studies,
experiments and determinations to promote wider and better use of
electric power for agricultural and domestic use, for small or local
industries, and it may cooperate with provincial governments or their
subdivisions or agencies, with education or research institutions and
with other organizations, in the applications of electric power to the
fuller and better balanced development of the resources of the
region;
(g) To provide and establish, in cooperation and
coordination with other government agencies concerned, schools and
settlements for the non-Christian tribes in the island, and in general,
to undertake such actions and projects for their socio-economic
improvement;
(h) To establish and operate, in cooperation and
coordination with other government agencies concerned, such tourist and
recreational resorts in the island as may be found suitable and
advantageous to operate; and
(j) To advise and cooperate in the readjustment of
the population displayed by the construction of dams, the acquisition
of reservoir areas, the protection of water sheds, the acquisition of
right-of-way, and other necessary acquisitions of land in order to
effectuate the purposes of this Act.
Sec. 9. In the execution and construction of the
projects pursuant to the policy herein enunciated, laborers from the
province and/or municipality where the projects are to be undertaken
shall be given preference.
SECTION 10. The Board of Directors shall, within a
period of six months after its organization, present to the President
of the Philippines for approval its plan and recommendation for the
unified economic development of the island in accordance with
objectives of this Act. Upon approval by the President of said plan,
the Corporation shall immediately execute the same and the President
shall issue such executive orders or proclamations as may be necessary
to reserve or transfer such portions of the lands of the public domain
and other public properties as may be needed by the Corporation.
SECTION 11. Nothing in this Act shall be construed as
affecting or intending to affect or in any way to interfere with any
vested right acquired under our laws relative to the control,
appropriation, use or distribution of water used in irrigation, and
nothing herein shall in any way affect any right of any province,
municipality or individual in, to, or from any stream or the waters
thereof: provided, that nothing in this section shall limit the
authority of the Corporation to acquire by purchase, lease,
expropriation or donation, real or personal property, or any interest
therein, necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 12. The Board, shall from time to time as the
work provided for in this Act progresses, recommend to Congress such
legislation as it deems proper to carry out the general purposes of
bringing about in the Island of Mindoro the maximum development of
agriculture, industry, conservation and exploitation of natural
resources, and the economic and social well-being of the people therein.
SECTION 13. For a period of one year after the
enactment of this Act, the President is authorized to sell or lease any
parcel or part to any vacant estate now owned by the Government to
persons, firms or corporations who shall contract to erect therein
factories or manufacturing establishments and to purchase of said
Corporation electric power for the operation of any such factory or
manufacturing establishment. No contract shall be made by the President
for the sale of any such real estate as may be necessary for the
present or future use of the Government. No lease shall be entered into
for a term to exceed fifty years, and any sale made shall be on
condition that the land shall be used for industrial purposes only.
SECTION 14. The Corporation shall sub-divide and sell
to persons qualified to acquire public lands such agricultural land
developed by it as may no longer be needed by the Corporation:
provided, that no such sale shall be made except through public bidding
nor shall the area be in excess of one hundred forty-four hectares for
an individual and one thousand twenty-four hectares for any association
or corporation.
SECTION 15. To carry into effect the purpose of this
Act, the amount of twenty million pesos is hereby authorized to be
appropriated, for the fiscal year following the approval of this Act,
and an equal amount of twenty million pesos shall be included in the
Public Works Appropriations Act of each year for the next three fiscal
years thereafter.
SECTION 16. Any person who shall receive any
compensation, rebate or reward or shall enter into any conspiracy,
collusion or agreement, express or implied, with intent to defraud the
Corporation or wrongfully and unlawfully to defeat its purposes, shall
upon conviction be imprisoned for not less than six months nor more
than three years.
The chairman or any member of the Board who shall violate the
prohibition provided in Section three hereof, shall be punished by
imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than five years.
SECTION 17. This Act shall take effect upon its
approval.
Approved: May 4, 1965
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