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

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:

Section 7. The Corporation is hereby authorized:

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:

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.