AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED SIXTY-ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-THREE, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE OIL INDUSTRY COMMISSION ACT, BY AUTHORIZING THE OIL INDUSTRY COMMISSION TO GRANT PROVI…

WHEREAS, under Presidential Decree No. 56, dated
November 17, 1972, the Oil Industry Commission, among other agencies,
has been placed under the administrative supervision of the National
Economic Development Authority, hereinafter referred to as the NEDA, the
highest development planning body of the country, for the purpose of
providing the all-important link between the regulatory functions of the
Commission and the development orientation required for a more
effective performance of its functions;

WHEREAS, to enable the NEDA to exercise more
effective supervision and control over the Oil Industry Commission, it
is necessary that all the decisions and orders of said Commission be
made reviewable by the NEDA in the light of their development
implications;

WHEREAS, to expedite proceedings in the Oil
Industry Commission and to provide the said Commission with more
flexibility in resolving urgent cases, it is also necessary to grant the
Commission express power to issue provisional orders and to change the
existing mode of appeal from the orders and decisions of the Commission;

WHEREAS, there was pending before Congress prior
to the promulgation of Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972,
a proposed amendment to Republic Act Numbered Sixty-One Hundred and
Seventy-Three;

WHEREAS, said proposed amendment bearing House
Bill No. 5165 and Senate Bill No. 895, would, among other things,
authorize the Oil Industry Commission to use the application,
registration, inspection and other fees and charges that it collects in
the discharge of its quasi-judicial and regulatory functions;

WHEREAS, there is a need to grant the said
authority to the Oil Industry Commission to augment its funds for
operational expenses and enable it to carry out more effectively its
objectives under the law; and

WHEREAS, while Sections fourteen and fifteen of
Republic Act Numbered Sixty-one hundred and seventy-three provide for
the source of funds for the operational expenses of the Oil Industry
Commission, the sum of P1,500,000 is likewise appropriated in the
current General Appropriations Act (Republic Act No. 6551) for the
budgetary use of the same Commission, thereby making it necessary to
clarify the funding of the said Commission;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS,
President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by
the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the
Philippines and pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21,
1972, and General Order No. 1, dated September 22, 1972, as amended, do
hereby order, decree and declare the following amendments to Republic
Act No. 6173 which are hereby adopted, approved, and made part of the
law of the land:

SECTION 1. Section eleven of Republic Act
Numbered Sixty-one hundred and seventy-three is hereby amended to read
as follows:

“SEC. 11. Review of Commission’s Order; Commission’s
Authority to Grant Provisional Relief. — A party adversely affected
by a decision or any order of the Commission in the exercise of its
powers subject to hearing, may, within a period of seven (7) days from
receipt of said decision or order, appeal in writing, stating clearly
and distinctly the grounds relied upon, to the National Economic
Development Authority, which shall have exclusive authority and
jurisdiction to review, reverse, modify or amend the same. The decision
or order of the Commission shall be final, unless reversed, altered or
modified, either on appeal or on review motu proprio within the
period hereinbelow stated. The National Economic Development Authority
shall decide the appeal on the basis of the record of the proceedings
had before the Commission and without requiring a re-hearing, within
thirty (30) days after the decision or order of the Commission shall
have been submitted thereto,

“The National Economic Development Authority shall likewise have
the power to review, motu proprio, any decision or order of the
Oil Industry Commission, to determine whether the same is in accord
with the policies and guidelines formulated by the National Economic
Development Authority. For this purpose, certified copies of all
decisions, orders and rulings of the Commission shall be forwarded to
the National Economic Development Authority immediately upon
promulgation thereof. Should the National Economic Development Authority
decide to exercise this power, it shall so advise the Oil Industry
Commission within thirty (30) days after receipt of the decision, order
or ruling.

“The decision of the National Economic Development Authority, on
appeal or after review motu proprio, shall be final. Unless the
National Economic Development Authority directs otherwise, appeal or motu
proprio review shall not stay execution or implementation of all
decisions or orders of the Oil Industry Commission, which shall be
executory upon the expiration of seven (7) days after their
promulgation.

“The Commission may, upon the filing of an application, petition
or complaint or at any stage thereafter, and without prior hearing, on
the basis of supporting papers duly verified and authenticated, grant
provisional relief on motion of a party in the case or on its own
initiative, without prejudice to a final decision after hearing, should
the Commission find that the pleadings, together with such affidavits,
documents and other evidence which may be submitted in support of the
motion, substantially support the provisional order.

“This Section shall apply to all pending proceedings in the
Commission.”

SEC. 2. Section fourteen of the same Act is
hereby amended to read as follows:

“SEC. 14. Appropriations. — For the proper
implementation of this Act, the sum of one million five hundred thousand
pesos is hereby appropriated out of any funds in the National Treasury
not otherwise appropriated for the operating expenses of the Commission
for the fiscal years nineteen hundred and seventy-one and nineteen
hundred and seventy-two. Any unobligated balance of this initial
appropriation may, however, still be used by the Commission in
subsequent fiscal years.

“Beginning with fiscal year nineteen hundred and seventy-three,
the operational expenses of the Commission shall be drawn from fees and
charges collected under the authority of Section 15 of this Act and from
application, licensing, registration and other fees or charges
collected by the Commission in the exercise of its quasi-judicial and
regulatory functions.”

SEC. 3. Section fifteen of the same Act is
hereby amended to read as follows:

“SEC. 15. Additional Fee on Importations and turn-over of
collections; release to the Commission is Ministerial. — Effective
July one, nineteen hundred seventy-one, there shall be levied, assessed
and collected, an additional fee of one tenth of one per cent of the CIF
value of crude oil and petroleum products imported into the
Philippines. The fee imposed herein shall be collected at the same time,
in the same manner and subject to the same penalties as the duties and
taxes regularly imposed on such products. This fee shall not be a basis
for any increase in the price of any petroleum product as of the
approval of this Act.”

“The Commissioner of Customs shall turn over the collections to
the Treasurer of the Philippines monthly within the first ten days of
the succeeding month. The collections shall accrue to a special fund and
the same or any portion thereof may not be transferred or diverted to
the general or any other fund or used or expended for any purpose other
than for the budgetary requirements of the Oil Industry Commission, the
provision of any law to the contrary notwithstanding. It shall be the
ministerial duty of the Treasurer of the Philippines, as well as the
officers and employees under his supervision and control, to effect
releases of said collections to the Commission upon order or
authorization of the Chairman thereof.

“The special fund of the Commission shall be disbursed on the
basis of principal and supplementary budgets duly approved by the
Commission, subject to the provisions of C.A. 246, as amended: Provided,
That, at the end of each fiscal year, beginning with fiscal year
nineteen hundred and seventy-four, all unobligated balances, in excess
of five hundred thousand pesos shall accrue to the general fund.”

SEC. 4. Any provision of the General
Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1973, Republic Act No. 6173, and of
all other acts, laws, executive orders, administrative orders, rules and
regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent herewith are hereby
repealed or amended accordingly.

SEC. 5. This Decree shall take effect
immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 19th day of January, in the
year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-three.