[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 832, August 14, 1952 ]
AN ACT TO REGULATE THE SALE, EXCHANGE, OR DELIVERY OF HOME POUNDED, UNDER-MILLED, MILLED OR POLISHED RICE, AND PROVIDING PENALTY FOR VIOLATION THEREOF.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
Section 1. Definition of Terms.-As used in this Act:
a. "Paddy" means the grain of the species Oryza sativa with its husk after threshing.
b. "Whole rice" means rice minus its husk with the germ, pericarp, and aleurone layers substantially intact.
c. "Home pounded rice" means rice from which the husk and aleurone layer have been removed without the use of power machinery.
d. "Undermilled", "lightly milled" or "unpolished rice" mean rice from which the husk, germ, pericarp and the aleurone layer have been partially removed by power machinery.
e. "Milled", "machine milled rice", "highly milled" or "white rice" mean rice with its outer layers, germ, pericarp, and aleurone layer removed by power machinery.
f. "Polished" or "coated rice" means milled rice treated after milling with polishing powders.
g. "Broken rice" means husked, milled, or home pounded rice consisting of broken grains smaller than three quarters of the whole kernel.
h. "Premix" means rice home pounded, undermilled, milled or polished rice kernels impregnated with concentrated solutions of the vitamins and minerals selected for enrichment followed by coating of the fortified grains with water-resistant film-forming edible substances.
i. "Enriched rice" means home pounded, undermilled, milled or polished rice homogenously mixed or blended with premix in such proportions as one part premix to one hundred ninety-nine parts of the home" pounded, undermilled, milled or polished rice.
j. "Person" means an individual, a corporation, a partnership, an association, a joint stock company, a trust, or any other unincorporated organization.
Section 2. It shall be unlawful for any merchant or miller except as hereinafter provided, to sell or offer for sale, deliver or exchange for any services or goods, home pounded, undermilled, milled or polished rice which is not labelled in accordance with such requirements as may be prescribed in the rules and regulations duly issued by the Secretary of Health in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
Section 3. The Secretary of Health is hereby authorized to issue such rules and regulations, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. He is further authorized to adopt such regulations, consistent with the purposes of this Act, as have been or may be adopted by the Food and Drug Board of Inspectors, prescribing with respect to home pounded, undermined, milled or polished rice:
1. The vitamins and the minerals and the amount thereof required or permitted to be contained therein;
2. The manner of enrichment with vitamins and minerals;
3. Methods of testing to determine conformance with the provisions of law;
4. Labelling requirements.
Section 4. The Secretary of Health or his representative is hereby authorized upon proper warrant duly issued, to enter upon any business establishment or vehicle where home pounded, undermilled, milled or polished rice may be found, for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this Act or to take samples of, and inspect and analyze home pounded, undermilled, milled or polished rice which are offered for sale, or which have been sold or exchanged for services or goods.
Section 5. The provisions of this Act shall not apply to the sale of home pounded, undermilled, milled or polished rice if the purchaser furnishes to the seller a certificate in such form as the Secretary of Health by regulation shall Prescribe, to the effect that he will use said home pounded, undermilled, milled or polished rice in the production of enriched or fortified home pounded, undermilled, milled or polished rice as required by the provisions of this Act, or for immediate consumption of himself and his family in places where such enriched or fortified rice is not available.
Section 6. Whenever the Secretary of Health has probable cause to believe that any home pounded, undermilled, milled or polished rice has been sold or offered for sale, or exchange, or any paddy processed and delivered in violation of any of the provisions of this Act, he may seize and affix to such product a notice to that effect, detaining the product and warning all persons not to dispose of it by sale or otherwise without his permission. The Secretary of Health may, in his discretion, release the home pounded, undermilled, milled or polished rice if brought into compliance with this Act, and upon payment of all costs or expenses1 incurred in any proceeding connected with such seizure and withdrawal.
Section 7. Any person found guilty of violating any provision of this Act shall be punished for each and every offense by an imprisonment of not less than thirty days and not more than six months or a fine of not less than two hundred pesos and not more than two thousand pesos or by both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.
Section 8. If any provision of this Act or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect any other provision or application of this Act, which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are declared to be separable.
Section 9. All other acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed to the extent of the inconsistency.1aшphi1
Section 10. This Act shall take effect upon the proclamation of the President when the Secretary of Health certifies that the province or provinces and cities concerned have already the facilities necessary to implement the law.
Section 11. Any person, who by manipulation of the source of supply or of the market, causes the price of the concentrated solutions of the vitamins and minerals or of the vitamins and minerals necessary to enrich the rice so as to comply with the provisions of this Act, to increase by more than fifty per cent of the prevailing market prices, shall be penalized by imprisonment of not less than five years nor more than ten years at the discretion of the Court.
Section 12. The sum of three hundred thousand pesos is hereby appropriated for needed personnel and the purchase, transportation, and installation of suitable mechanical equipment in all rice mills affected by this Act upon evidence that such equipment is required to comply with the provisions of this Act, said sum of three hundred thousand pesos to be available for a period of five years following the date of approval of this Act.
Approved, August 14, 1952.
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