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
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:
Section 1. This Act may be cited as the Mindoro Development Act of 1965.
Section 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.1âшphi1 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.1âшphi1 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.
Section 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; dc
(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.
Section 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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