Republic Act No. 3054: An act creating the central luzon-cagayan valley authority

REPUBLIC ACT No. 3054

An Act Creating the Central Luzon-Cagayan Valley Authority

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:

Section 1. Purposes

The purposes of this Act are:

(a)To provide for the irrigation of thousands of hectares of agricultural land in Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon;

(b)To provide electric power in said regions for industrial development and domestic uses;

(c)To provide navigation; and (d) To control destructive floods in said areas by harnessing the Cagayan, Abra, and Pampanga rivers and their tributaries in an all-out economic and agricultural development of the regions to be served by said rivers.

Section 2

Central Luzon-Cagayan Valley Authority created; duration; principal office; board of directors, their number, appointment and term of office. -(a) In order to achieve the purposes of this Act as declared in the preceding section, there is hereby created a body corporate by the name of "Central Luzon-Cagayan Valley Authority," hereinafter referred to as CLCVA, which shall have its principal place of business in the City of Manila and shall exist for a period of fifty years. The corporate powers of the CLCVA shall be vested in, and exercised by, a board of directors, hereinafter referred to as the Board, composed of five members, all of whom shall be qualified and registered engineers, to be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments. In appointing members of the Board, the President shall designate the chairman and vice-chairman thereof. The vice-chairman of the Board shall be the general manager of the CLCVA.

(b)The terms of office of the members first appointed shall expire as designated by the President at the time of nomination, one at the end of the second year, one at the end of the third year, one at the end of the fourth year, and one at the end of the fifth year. The member designated as vice-chairman of the Board shall hold office at the pleasure of the President. A successor to a member of the Board shall be appointed in the same manner as the original members and shall have a term of office expiring five years from the date of the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed. Any member of the Board may, however, be removed or suspended by the President for cause.

(c)Any member appointed to fill a vacancy in the Board occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed shall be appointed for the remainder of such term.

(d)Vacancies in the Board, so long as there shall be three members in office, shall not impair the power of the Board to execute the functions of the CLCVA, and three of the members in office shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of the business of the Board.

(e)Each of the members of the Board shall be natural-born citizen of the Philippines and shall, except the vice-chairman, receive a per diem of fifty pesos per Board meeting which per diems shall not, however, exceed the sum of four hundred pesos per member per month. Members of the Board shall be reimbursed by the CLCVA for actual expenses (including traveling and subsistence expenses) incurred by them in the performance of the duties vested in the Board by this Act.

Section 3. Officers and employees and their compensation; audit

(a)The general manager shall be the chief executive officer of the CLCVA and shall receive a salary of not exceeding twenty-four thousand pesos per annum to be fixed by the Board and who shall direct and manage the affairs and business of the CLCVA subject to the control and supervision of the Board.

(b)The Board shall appoint and fix the salary of an assistant general manager who shall be a qualified and registered engineer and who shall and registered engineer and who shall perform his duties as the Board and the general manager may direct.

(c)Subject to the Civil Service Law and regulations, the Board shall appoint such additional personnel as may be necessary for the transaction of its business, fix their compensation, define their duties, require bonds of such of them as the Board may designate, and provide a system of organization to fix responsibility and promote efficiency.

(d)The financial transactions of the CLCVA shall be audited in accordance with law, administrative regulations, and the principles and procedures applicable to both governmental and private commercial corporate transactions. A report of audit for each fiscal year shall be submitted, within sixty days after the close of the fiscal year, by the CLCVA auditor, thru the Auditor General, to the Board, and copies thereof in printed form shall be furnished the President, the Administrator of Economic Coordination and the Presiding Officers of the two Houses of Congress. T he Auditor General shall appoint his representative as auditor of the CLCVA and the necessary personnel to assist said auditor in the performance of his duties. T he salary of the auditor shall be equal to the salary of the CLCVAs assistant general manager. The number and salaries of the subordinate audit personnel shall be determined by the Auditor General within the limit of the appropriation set by the Board.

In case of disagreement on such matters, the same should be submitted to the President whose decision thereon shall be final. Said salaries of the auditor and his subordinate personnel and all other necessary expenses for the maintenance of said auditing service shall be paid by the CLCVA.

Section 4

Corporate powers generally. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this Act, the CLCVA

(a)Shall have succession in its corporate name.

(b)May sue and be sued in its corporate name.

(c)May adopt and use a corporate seal which shall be judicially noticed.

(d)May make contracts as herein authorized.

(e)May adopt, amend, and repeal by-laws.

(f)May purchase or lease, hold or dispose, such real and personal properties as it deems necessary or convenient in the transaction of its business.

(g)Shall have power in the name of the Republic of the Philippines to exercise the right of eminent domain, and in the purchase of any real estate or the acquisition of real estate by condemnation proceedings, the title to such real estate shall be taken in the name of the Republic of the Philippines, and thereupon all such real estate shall be entrusted to the CLCVA as the agent of the Republic of the Philippines to accomplish the objectives of this Act.

(h)Shall have power to construct such dams and reservoirs in the Cagayan, Abra and Pampanga rivers and their tributaries or in any river in northern central Luzon as will best serve to promote navigation and provide irrigation in the said rivers and their tributaries and control floods therein, subject to the approval of the President; and shall have power to acquire or construct power houses, power structures, transmission lines, navigation projects, and incidental works in the said rivers and their tributaries: Provided, However, That the Board may, with the consent of the President and believing that the construction of said dams, reservoirs, and necessary works in said rivers and their tributaries can be better undertaken in points of economy, durability, and serviceability by a private person or firm, award said projects to any private person or firm thru public bidding, preference to be given to Filipino contractors or firms.

(i)Shall have power to advise and cooperate in the readjustment of the population displaced by the construction of dams, the acquisition of reservoir areas, the protection of watersheds, the acquisition of right-of-way, and other necessary acquisitions of land, in order to effectuate the purposes of this Act.

(j)And shall have such powers as may be necessary or appropriate for the exercise of the powers herein specifically conferred upon the CLCVA.

Section 5. Other powers of the Board

(a)The CLCVA may request the assistance and advice of any officer or employee in the executive department to enable the Corporation the better to carry out its powers successfully, and as far as practicable, to utilize the services of such officers and employees, and the President shall, if in his opinion the public interest, service, or economy so require, direct that such assistance, advice, and service be rendered to the CLCVA, and any individual that may be, by the President, directed to render such assistance, advice, and service shall be thereafter subject to the orders, rules, and regulations of the Board.

(b)The CLCVA shall produce, distribute, and sell electric power, as herein particularly specified.

(c)The Board is hereby empowered and authorized to sell surplus power not used in its operations to provinces, municipalities, barrios, private persons or firms according to the policies set forth in this sub-section; and to carry out such authority, the Board is authorized to enter into contracts for such sale and in the sale of such current by the Board, it shall give preference to provinces, municipalities, barrios, and cooperative organizations of citizens and farmers not organized or doing business for profit: Provided, That all contracts made with private companies or individuals for the sale of power, which power is to be resold for profit, shall contain a provision authorizing the Board to cancel said contract upon a years notice in writing, if the Board needs said power to supply the demands of the Government and its instrumentalities. In order to promote and encourage the fullest possible use of electric light and power of farms with reasonable distance of any of its transmission lines the Board, in its discretion, shall have the power to construct transmission lines to farms and barrios that are not otherwise supplied with electricity at reasonable rates: Provided, further, That the Board is authorized and directed to make studies, experiment and determinations to promote the wider and better use of electric power for agricultural and domestic use, or for small or home industries, and it may cooperate with local governments, with educational or research institutions, and with cooperatives or other organizations, in the application of electric power to the fuller and better balanced development of the resources of the region: And Provided, further, That in order to supply local governments with electric power directly as contemplated by this section, the Board, with the approval of the President, shall have power to acquire existing electric facilities used in serving such local governments.

Section 6. Capital Stock

The capital stock of the CLCVA shall be two hundred million pesos divided into two hundred thousand shares having a par value of one thousand pesos each. The said capital stock shall be fully subscribed by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. One hundred thousand shares of such capital stock shall be paid from the proceeds of the sale of reparations goods and services, the provisions of Section three of Republic Act Numbered Seventeen eighty-nine to the contrary notwithstanding, and the remainder of such capital stock shall be paid from the sale of bonds redeemable in twenty years from the date of issue thereof and bearing interest not exceeding four per cent per annum. Such bonds shall be issued and sold in amounts and prices by the Central Bank of the Philippines, but all such bonds so issued and sold shall have equal rank. None of said bonds shall be sold below par, and no fee, commission, or compensation whatever shall be paid to any person, firm or corporation for handling, negotiating the sale, or selling said bonds. All funds derived from the sale of such bonds shall be used to purchase the shares of stock of the CLCVA as authorized in this section.

Section 7. Advance of funds to the CLCVA

The Central Bank shall advance such sums of money as may be necessary and applied for by the CLCVA to effect the purposes of this Act to be guaranteed by the reparations payments described in Section six of this Act.

Section 8. Preliminary survey and investigations; reports

Within six months after the initial organization of the CLCVA, the Board shall appoint a special technical committee from its personnel to undertake a preliminary survey and investigation of the project envisioned under this Act, after which, a complete and detailed report of its findings and recommendations shall be submitted immediately by the Board to the President and to each presiding officer of the Congress. Thereafter, the Board shall file with the said officers, in December of each year, a financial statement and a complete report as to the business of the CLCVA covering the preceding governmental fiscal year.

Section 9. Exemption to payment of taxes

The CLCVA, its property and income are hereby expressly exempted from taxation in any manner or form by the Government or any of its entities or instrumentalities.

Section 10. Disposition of net proceeds from operation of the CLCVA

The proceeds of each fiscal year derived by the Board from the sale of power and from any other activities of the CLCVA including the disposition of any real or personal property, shall be paid into the National Treasury at the end of each calendar year, save and except such part of such proceeds as in the opinion of the Board shall be necessary for the CLCVA in the operation of dams and reservoirs, in conducting its business in generating, transmitting, and distributing electric energy.

Section 11. Sale of surplus lands

Any land purchased by the CLCVA and not necessary to carry out plans and projects actually decided upon shall be sold by the CLCVA as agent of the Government, after due advertisement, at public auction to the highest bidder: Provided, That if the former owner of such land desires to buy back the same, such land shall be resold to him at the purchase price.

Section 12. Separability clause

The provisions of this Act are hereby declared to be separable, and in the event any one or more of said provisions be held unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the validity of other sections of this Act.

Section 13. Appropriations

The sum of five hundred thousand pesos, or much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby authorized to be appropriated out of any funds available in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to defray the salaries of the Board members and personnel and the expenses of the initial surveys and investigations, authorized and directed to be undertaken in Section eight of this Act, Thereafter, and until the CLCVAs income from its business is sufficient to maintain and operate its activities, said sum shall be included in the Annual Appropriations Acts.

Section 14. Effectivity

This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 17, 1961.

For information and research only, and not legal advice. This text may not reflect later amendments. For certified copies, refer to the Official Gazette or the issuing agency.

In plain language