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H. No. 3377 / 55 OG No. 31, 6322 (August 10, 1959)
[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2301, June 19, 1959 ]
AN ACT APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR PUBLIC WORKS, SYNCHRONIZING THE SAME WITH PREVIOUS PUBLIC WORKS ACTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and Bouse of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
SECTION 1. Projects in the Long-Range Program of Capital Improvements.—The following sums or so much thereof as may be necessary are hereby appropriated out of the General Funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, subject to the provisions hereinafter set forth, for the purposes mentioned hereunder:
[Itemized portions omitted due to lack of space]
SEC. 2. Projects under maintenance and short-term program of capital improvements.—The following sums or so much thereof as may be necessary are hereby appropriated out of the General Funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, subject to the provisions hereinafter set forth, for the purposes mentioned hereunder:
[Itemized portions omitted due to lack of space]
SEC. 3. Pre-fabricated School Buildings.—The following sum or so much thereof as may be necessary is hereby appropriated out of the General Funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, subject to the provisions hereinafter set forth, for the prefabrication of materials into schoolroom units for elementary school buildings, including the purchase of necessary spare parts, tools, materials and supplies and the erection thereof: Provided, That the President of the Philippines may authorize the pre-cutting and crating of schoolroom units by contract thru public bidding with operators of private sawmills or lumber yards in every Congressional District of the Philippines, where the capacity of such sawmills or lumber yards is adequate, to handle contracts amounting to not more than P20,000 at one time, in which case the schoolroom units so produced shall be allocated strictly in accordance with and without exception to the proportion established in Republic Act No. 836, as amended
The remainder of said unexpended balances shall be spent for engineering, architectural, statistical, and economic investigations, studies, planning, design, and other procedures preliminary to actual construction of any public works projects, including personnel transportation, purchase of necessary supplies and equipment, and payment of wages of skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled laborers casually employed for such purposes; for tho maintenance of eight irrigation districts; for water-rights adjudication and hydrographic investigations; for in-service training and participation in local or foreign technological conferences; for the preparation, editing, publication and binding of reports, and technical data, technological material and and magazines; and I'or the undertaking of necessary field engineering investigation and survey of projects financed in this Act:
SEC. 5. Apportionment of Portworks Special Fund.—The following sums or so much thereof as may be necessary are hereby apportioned out of the construction portion of the Portworks Special Fund that have accrued tinder Act No. 3592, as amended by Commonwealth Act No. 130 and by Republic Act No. 1216, not otherwise apportioned, to be released by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications pursuant to the provisions hereinafter set forth and for the purposes mentioned hereunder:
[Itemized portions omitted due to lack of space]
SPECIAL PROVISIONS
SEC. 6. Program of Work Required before Prosecuting Public Works.—Before prosecuting any public works, the district, city, or project engineer concerned shall prepare a. program and estimate of work. For work to be undertaken by administration, the engineer concerned may, however, be allowed to submit a revised program of work if due to unforeseen rise in price of materials or to change in field conditions or to other such circumstance, it becomes evident that the work can not be accomplished in accordance with the original program. With the exception of projects the estimated cost of any of which is ten thousand pesos or less, under no circumstance shall the District or City or Project Engineer start work without first securing approval of the corresponding program of work from the Head of the Bureau or Office concerned or from the latter's duly designated representative, and no program of work for any project which requires special site investigation, survey and construction plans shall be approved unless such plans are used as basis of the program; Provided, That in the construction of community projects under this Act or any previous Public Works Acts and projects under Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred thirty-six, the district, city or project engineer may proceed with the construction of such projects on his own initiative if the costs thereof does not exceed ten thousand pesos. If the cost exceeds ten thousand pesos but is less than twenty thousand pesos, the approval of the program of work by the division engineer must first be secured, if such cost exceeds twenty thousand pesos but is less than fifty thousand pesos, the approval of the Commissioner of Highways or the Director of Public Works, as the case may be, must first be secured, and if the cost exceeds fifty thousand pesos then the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications must first be secured before the construction of such Project can be undertaken. The Auditor General or his authorized representatives shall be furnished a copy of the program of work for his guidance and shall have access to the data on which the program was based.
SEC. 7. Recognition of Civic Organizations in the Prosecution of Community Improvement Projects.—Whenever the appropriation amounting to not more than fifteen thousand pesos for any project released and made available for expenditure, wholly or partly, such project may be undertaken by administration the provisions of existing laws or regulations to the contrary notwithstanding.
When any such project does not require complicated methods of construction or highly specialized techniques, it may be awarded through a negotiated contract to the most concerned civic organization in the locality which has filed an application therefor in the manner herein provided. The application shall be filed by the organization concerned with the District Engineer or his official counterpart, as the case may be, specifying, among other things, the payment to be received for the work. After evaluating in prequalifying bidders and awarding contracts, no bid the offer and the terms proposed by comparing them with the corresponding program of work and estimate, the project may be awarded by the official concerned to the applicant through a negotiated contract for an amount not to exceed ninety percent of the cost of the work as originally estimated and programmed pursuant to section six of this Act. In case two or more civic organizations offer to undertake the project, the official concerned shall award the contract to the organization offering the lowest quotation, determined by sealed bidding to be opened in the municipal building of the municipality where the project is located within ten days, but not earlier than seven days, after notice of such bidding is posted on the public bulletin board of said municipality: Provided, That in prequalifying bidders and awarding contracts, no bid nor performance bond will be required.
The authority of the District Engineer or his official counterpart to undertake any work by administration or through negotiated contract as herein provided for shall be deemed to have been duly secured upon receipt by the Provincial or City Auditor of the official advice to the head of the bureau or office concerned to so prosecute the work.
Under no circumstance shall the provisions of this section be construed to deprive the District Engineer or his official counterpart, as the case may be, of his supervisory control over any of the projects referred to in this section or to relieve him of any responsibility, administrative or otherwise, for any defect in procedure, control or technical surveillance, resulting in waste of money, destruction of, or damage to, property or lowering of engineering standards. In cases where the work is undertaken through negotiated contract with a civic organization, the District Engineer, or his counterpart, may not charge against the fund of the project any expense for inspection by him or his assistant but he may designate as his representative and assign to the project as work-inspector any competent craftsman whose compensation and travel expenses for the duration of the assignment shall be chargeable against the funds of the project but not against the contract and shall not exceed one half of one per cent of the contract price. The District Engineer, or his official counterpart, may make any other suitable arrangement to enable him to maintain supervisory control over the project without however exceeding the compensation limitation herein imposed.
SEC. 8. Prohibition in Use of Sums Appropriated herein.—No appropriation herein authorized shall be used to pay obligations or overdrafts previously incurred, nor be made available for the purchase of office equipment, supplies and automobiles or station wagons, nor be used to pay salaries of employees except those directly engaged in the work or assigned officially to the project for which the appropriation has been made: Provided, That the rates of compensation shall not be higher than those authorized under the General Appropriation Act for the same rank or position in the Bureau concerned.
SEC. 9. Suspension of Work Done by Administration Before General or Special Elections.—The provisions of any existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, within forty-five days before every general or special election, no laborer shall be employed in, nor money spent for, any public works project contained in this Act and other Public Acts even if the money is actually released before or within such period except for:
SEC. 12. Use of Excess Funds.—Whenever any school wilding community and road project is completed and a balance of appropriation remains, the district or city engineer, as the case may be, may use such balance for the purchase or acquisition of essential school equipment, or for any urgent improvement work, within the premises and for covering deficiency of appropriation of any project of the same category within the municipality.
SEC. 13. Publication of Call for Bids in Newspaper Sufficient.—Any law, rule or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding, in the calling for bids, as required by law, for the execution of any project with appropriation in this Act or in any of the previous Public Works Acts, advertisement thereof in any newspaper of general circulation in Manila and/or in the locality, or province, or region where the project is located is sufficient compliance to the pertinent provisions of the Revised Administrative Code.
SEC. 14. Purchase of Project Sites Included in Appropriation.—Unless otherwise specified in the project items, appropriations herein authorized for construction of any project shall be understood as including the acquisition or purchase of sites if such acquisition or purchase is impliedly necessary for the prosecution of the project.
SEC. 15. Engineering Surcharge.—Any provisions of law, rule or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding, and regardless of the source of funds, no national surcharge shall be collected from appropriations or expenditures for any public works, and provincial surcharge on expenditures for any public works under this Act or any previous Public Works Acts shall not exceed two per cent.
SEC. 16. Public Works Appropriation under This Act Are National Disbursing Funds: Exceptions.—Any provision of existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, all funds appropriated under the provisions of this Act shall, when released, be carried in the account books of the treasurers as national disbursing funds and all the projects herein specified are classified as national projects unless such funds are appropriated specifically as aid to the provinces, chartered cities and municipalities, as the case may be: Provided, That provincial funds allocated as counterpart shall not be considered as national funds.
SEC. 17. Community projects as well as projects in the rural areas financed by national funds may be prosecuted by administration of the people in the barrio or barrios where such projects are located, provided the people agree to perform the work on the basis of self-help under the supervision and control of the Highway District or City Engineer concerned. The Secretary of Public Works and Communications is hereby authorized to promulgate within thirty days from the approval of this act such rules and regulations as arc necessary to safeguard the appropriation for said projects.
SEC. 18. Reports.—Thirty days before the opening day of every regular session of Congress, the proper Department Head shall make a report to both Houses of Congress and to the President, in printed and bound form, which shall include the appropriations, unexpended balances, un-released portions of said appropriations as of date of said report and the percentage of work accomplished and work yet to be done to accomplish the program of broad categories of public works including his recommendations, if any, for transfer of appropriations or for program changes to be incorporated in the next Public Works Appropriation Act: Provided, That report on individual projects incorporating the aforementioned data shall be supplied by the District Engineer upon request of any government official or other interested parties.
SEC. 19. The provisions of sections, 6, 7, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18 shall be applicable to all previous Public Works Acts notwithstanding the provisions to the contrary.
SEC. 20. Any violation of any provision of sections six, eight and nine of this Act and of similar provisions of Previous Public Works Acts shall constitute serious administrative offense punishable by dismissal from the service with the prejudice to reinstatement and deprivation of all retirement benefits and privileges.
SEC. 21. In the release of funds priority shall be given to appropriations for school buildings.
SEC. 22. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved, June 19, 1959, except sections 20 and 21.
SECTION 1. Projects in the Long-Range Program of Capital Improvements.—The following sums or so much thereof as may be necessary are hereby appropriated out of the General Funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, subject to the provisions hereinafter set forth, for the purposes mentioned hereunder:
SEC. 2. Projects under maintenance and short-term program of capital improvements.—The following sums or so much thereof as may be necessary are hereby appropriated out of the General Funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, subject to the provisions hereinafter set forth, for the purposes mentioned hereunder:
SEC. 3. Pre-fabricated School Buildings.—The following sum or so much thereof as may be necessary is hereby appropriated out of the General Funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, subject to the provisions hereinafter set forth, for the prefabrication of materials into schoolroom units for elementary school buildings, including the purchase of necessary spare parts, tools, materials and supplies and the erection thereof: Provided, That the President of the Philippines may authorize the pre-cutting and crating of schoolroom units by contract thru public bidding with operators of private sawmills or lumber yards in every Congressional District of the Philippines, where the capacity of such sawmills or lumber yards is adequate, to handle contracts amounting to not more than P20,000 at one time, in which case the schoolroom units so produced shall be allocated strictly in accordance with and without exception to the proportion established in Republic Act No. 836, as amended
SEC. 4. So much as may be necessary, but not exceeding the sum of 1,000,000, to cover deficiencies in appropriation for miscellaneous dredging operations of dredges furnished Under MSA or ICA assistance in connection with construction and improvement of river control projects as the Secretary of Public Works and Communications may certify to, the President are hereby appropriated out of the unexpended balances of the appropriations under "Title I Miscellaneous", of Republic Acts Numbered Sixteen Hundred Thirteen, Nineteen Hundred, and Twenty Hundred Ninety-three.
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The remainder of said unexpended balances shall be spent for engineering, architectural, statistical, and economic investigations, studies, planning, design, and other procedures preliminary to actual construction of any public works projects, including personnel transportation, purchase of necessary supplies and equipment, and payment of wages of skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled laborers casually employed for such purposes; for tho maintenance of eight irrigation districts; for water-rights adjudication and hydrographic investigations; for in-service training and participation in local or foreign technological conferences; for the preparation, editing, publication and binding of reports, and technical data, technological material and and magazines; and I'or the undertaking of necessary field engineering investigation and survey of projects financed in this Act:
SEC. 5. Apportionment of Portworks Special Fund.—The following sums or so much thereof as may be necessary are hereby apportioned out of the construction portion of the Portworks Special Fund that have accrued tinder Act No. 3592, as amended by Commonwealth Act No. 130 and by Republic Act No. 1216, not otherwise apportioned, to be released by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications pursuant to the provisions hereinafter set forth and for the purposes mentioned hereunder:
SPECIAL PROVISIONS
SEC. 6. Program of Work Required before Prosecuting Public Works.—Before prosecuting any public works, the district, city, or project engineer concerned shall prepare a. program and estimate of work. For work to be undertaken by administration, the engineer concerned may, however, be allowed to submit a revised program of work if due to unforeseen rise in price of materials or to change in field conditions or to other such circumstance, it becomes evident that the work can not be accomplished in accordance with the original program. With the exception of projects the estimated cost of any of which is ten thousand pesos or less, under no circumstance shall the District or City or Project Engineer start work without first securing approval of the corresponding program of work from the Head of the Bureau or Office concerned or from the latter's duly designated representative, and no program of work for any project which requires special site investigation, survey and construction plans shall be approved unless such plans are used as basis of the program; Provided, That in the construction of community projects under this Act or any previous Public Works Acts and projects under Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred thirty-six, the district, city or project engineer may proceed with the construction of such projects on his own initiative if the costs thereof does not exceed ten thousand pesos. If the cost exceeds ten thousand pesos but is less than twenty thousand pesos, the approval of the program of work by the division engineer must first be secured, if such cost exceeds twenty thousand pesos but is less than fifty thousand pesos, the approval of the Commissioner of Highways or the Director of Public Works, as the case may be, must first be secured, and if the cost exceeds fifty thousand pesos then the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications must first be secured before the construction of such Project can be undertaken. The Auditor General or his authorized representatives shall be furnished a copy of the program of work for his guidance and shall have access to the data on which the program was based.
SEC. 7. Recognition of Civic Organizations in the Prosecution of Community Improvement Projects.—Whenever the appropriation amounting to not more than fifteen thousand pesos for any project released and made available for expenditure, wholly or partly, such project may be undertaken by administration the provisions of existing laws or regulations to the contrary notwithstanding.
When any such project does not require complicated methods of construction or highly specialized techniques, it may be awarded through a negotiated contract to the most concerned civic organization in the locality which has filed an application therefor in the manner herein provided. The application shall be filed by the organization concerned with the District Engineer or his official counterpart, as the case may be, specifying, among other things, the payment to be received for the work. After evaluating in prequalifying bidders and awarding contracts, no bid the offer and the terms proposed by comparing them with the corresponding program of work and estimate, the project may be awarded by the official concerned to the applicant through a negotiated contract for an amount not to exceed ninety percent of the cost of the work as originally estimated and programmed pursuant to section six of this Act. In case two or more civic organizations offer to undertake the project, the official concerned shall award the contract to the organization offering the lowest quotation, determined by sealed bidding to be opened in the municipal building of the municipality where the project is located within ten days, but not earlier than seven days, after notice of such bidding is posted on the public bulletin board of said municipality: Provided, That in prequalifying bidders and awarding contracts, no bid nor performance bond will be required.
The authority of the District Engineer or his official counterpart to undertake any work by administration or through negotiated contract as herein provided for shall be deemed to have been duly secured upon receipt by the Provincial or City Auditor of the official advice to the head of the bureau or office concerned to so prosecute the work.
Under no circumstance shall the provisions of this section be construed to deprive the District Engineer or his official counterpart, as the case may be, of his supervisory control over any of the projects referred to in this section or to relieve him of any responsibility, administrative or otherwise, for any defect in procedure, control or technical surveillance, resulting in waste of money, destruction of, or damage to, property or lowering of engineering standards. In cases where the work is undertaken through negotiated contract with a civic organization, the District Engineer, or his counterpart, may not charge against the fund of the project any expense for inspection by him or his assistant but he may designate as his representative and assign to the project as work-inspector any competent craftsman whose compensation and travel expenses for the duration of the assignment shall be chargeable against the funds of the project but not against the contract and shall not exceed one half of one per cent of the contract price. The District Engineer, or his official counterpart, may make any other suitable arrangement to enable him to maintain supervisory control over the project without however exceeding the compensation limitation herein imposed.
SEC. 8. Prohibition in Use of Sums Appropriated herein.—No appropriation herein authorized shall be used to pay obligations or overdrafts previously incurred, nor be made available for the purchase of office equipment, supplies and automobiles or station wagons, nor be used to pay salaries of employees except those directly engaged in the work or assigned officially to the project for which the appropriation has been made: Provided, That the rates of compensation shall not be higher than those authorized under the General Appropriation Act for the same rank or position in the Bureau concerned.
SEC. 9. Suspension of Work Done by Administration Before General or Special Elections.—The provisions of any existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, within forty-five days before every general or special election, no laborer shall be employed in, nor money spent for, any public works project contained in this Act and other Public Acts even if the money is actually released before or within such period except for:
- Ordinary maintenance work on existing and/or completed public works projects: Provided, That there is no increase over the number of usual laborers or employees employed therein sixty days prior to the beginning of this forty-five-day period: Provided, further, That no extra gang of laborers are employed within the said period of forty-five days;
- Work undertaken by contract through public bidding held before the forty-five-day period: Provided, That work for the purpose of this section undertaken under the so-called "takay" or "paquiao" system shall not be considered as work contract;
- Payment for the usual cost of preparation of working drawings, specifications, bills of materials, estimates, and other procedures preparatory to actual construction, including the purchase of materials and equipment, and all incidental expenses for wages of watchman and other laborers employed for such work in the central offices and field storehouses before the beginning of such period: Provided, That the number of such laborers shall not be increased over the number hired when the project or projects were commenced;
- Emergency work necessitated by the occurrence of a public calamity, but such work shall be limited to the restoration of the damaged facility and shall further be limited to funds available for maintenance:
- The contractor shall provide and have on hand every pay day, in addition to the usual requirement of cash outlay for the prosecution of the contract work, a labor fund in an amount sufficient to cover each fifteen-day labor payroll for the project and payment to the laborers and employees shall be made within three days after the end of every pay period. Payment of wages and salaries to laborers and employees engaged in the project shall be witnessed by the engineer incharge of the work or his Representative who shall certify to such payment. Upon failure of the contractor to pay his laborers and employees within the period herein stated, the government shall forthwith make such payment out of the funds of the project, in which case the sum paid out plus a surcharge of one per cent shall be deducted from any amount due or to become due the contractor without prejudice to the right of the government to rescind the contract.
- Should the government, at any time during the effectively of a contract, impose, abolish, modify any tax, custom duties, license, impost, fee or other similar charges, or enact, amend or repeal any law affecting the number of hours of labor permissible a day or the number of days a week or the wages or salaries to be paid to laborers and employees, which would directly increase or decrease the cost of materials or the cost of the construction work beyond or under the amount stipulated in the contract, the contract amount shall be readjusted accordingly by a committee, hereby created for this purpose, composed of the Auditor General as Chairman, the Secretary of Public Works and Communications and the Commissioner of the Budget as members; Provided, That the party seeking adjustment shall first apply for same in writing, stating therein the reasons justifying the change as well as the data and the computations in sufficient detail which would determine accurately the amount of the change.
SEC. 12. Use of Excess Funds.—Whenever any school wilding community and road project is completed and a balance of appropriation remains, the district or city engineer, as the case may be, may use such balance for the purchase or acquisition of essential school equipment, or for any urgent improvement work, within the premises and for covering deficiency of appropriation of any project of the same category within the municipality.
SEC. 13. Publication of Call for Bids in Newspaper Sufficient.—Any law, rule or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding, in the calling for bids, as required by law, for the execution of any project with appropriation in this Act or in any of the previous Public Works Acts, advertisement thereof in any newspaper of general circulation in Manila and/or in the locality, or province, or region where the project is located is sufficient compliance to the pertinent provisions of the Revised Administrative Code.
SEC. 14. Purchase of Project Sites Included in Appropriation.—Unless otherwise specified in the project items, appropriations herein authorized for construction of any project shall be understood as including the acquisition or purchase of sites if such acquisition or purchase is impliedly necessary for the prosecution of the project.
SEC. 15. Engineering Surcharge.—Any provisions of law, rule or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding, and regardless of the source of funds, no national surcharge shall be collected from appropriations or expenditures for any public works, and provincial surcharge on expenditures for any public works under this Act or any previous Public Works Acts shall not exceed two per cent.
SEC. 16. Public Works Appropriation under This Act Are National Disbursing Funds: Exceptions.—Any provision of existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, all funds appropriated under the provisions of this Act shall, when released, be carried in the account books of the treasurers as national disbursing funds and all the projects herein specified are classified as national projects unless such funds are appropriated specifically as aid to the provinces, chartered cities and municipalities, as the case may be: Provided, That provincial funds allocated as counterpart shall not be considered as national funds.
SEC. 17. Community projects as well as projects in the rural areas financed by national funds may be prosecuted by administration of the people in the barrio or barrios where such projects are located, provided the people agree to perform the work on the basis of self-help under the supervision and control of the Highway District or City Engineer concerned. The Secretary of Public Works and Communications is hereby authorized to promulgate within thirty days from the approval of this act such rules and regulations as arc necessary to safeguard the appropriation for said projects.
SEC. 18. Reports.—Thirty days before the opening day of every regular session of Congress, the proper Department Head shall make a report to both Houses of Congress and to the President, in printed and bound form, which shall include the appropriations, unexpended balances, un-released portions of said appropriations as of date of said report and the percentage of work accomplished and work yet to be done to accomplish the program of broad categories of public works including his recommendations, if any, for transfer of appropriations or for program changes to be incorporated in the next Public Works Appropriation Act: Provided, That report on individual projects incorporating the aforementioned data shall be supplied by the District Engineer upon request of any government official or other interested parties.
SEC. 19. The provisions of sections, 6, 7, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18 shall be applicable to all previous Public Works Acts notwithstanding the provisions to the contrary.
SEC. 20. Any violation of any provision of sections six, eight and nine of this Act and of similar provisions of Previous Public Works Acts shall constitute serious administrative offense punishable by dismissal from the service with the prejudice to reinstatement and deprivation of all retirement benefits and privileges.
SEC. 21. In the release of funds priority shall be given to appropriations for school buildings.
SEC. 22. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved, June 19, 1959, except sections 20 and 21.