Republic Act No. 3101 | Senate of the Philippines Legislative Reference Bureau

SECTION 1. Capital Improvements from General Funds. — 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, to implement the general fund sector of the long-range program of capital improvements:

[Itemized portions omitted due to lack of space]

SECTION 2. Capital Improvements Partly Financed with General Funds. — 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, for the construction and/or improvement of projects which are to be financed partly from proceeds of loans which are hereby authorized from foreign lending institutions:

[Itemized portions omitted due to lack of space]

SECTION 3. Capital Improvements to be Financed from Bond Issues or Loans. — The following sums or so much thereof as may be necessary are hereby appropriated out of the proceeds of bond issues and/or loans which are hereby authorized from local or foreign lending institutions, subject to the provisions hereinafter set forth for the purposes mentioned hereunder:

[Itemized portions omitted due to lack of space]

SECTION 4. Community Development Projects. — 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]

SECTION 5. Capital Improvements Financed from Portworks Special Fund. — The following sums, or so much thereof, as may be necessary, are hereby apportioned out of the Portworks Special Fund, as provided in Act No. 3592, as amended, not otherwise apportioned, subject to the provisions hereinafter set forth and for purposes mentioned hereunder, to implement the portworks sector of the long-range program of capital improvements.

SECTION 6. Program of Work Required before Prosecuting Public Works. — Before prosecuting any public works project, the district, city or project engineer concerned shall prepare for approval a program of work which shall include among other things the total estimated cost of materials and labor, list of equipment and tools required, estimated cost in equipment rentals, the anticipated duration of work in its various stages, and the probable date work shall start, and in no case shall construction work on a project be started before the program of work has been approved by the Department Head concerned for projects with an estimated cost of more than P50,000, by the Bureau Head concerned for projects with an estimated cost of more than P25,000 up to P50,000, by the Division Engineer concerned for projects with an estimated cost of more than P15,000 up to P25,000, and by the District or City Engineer concerned for projects with an estimated cost of P15,000 or less. 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. For any project already being undertaken, the engineer concerned may be allowed to submit a revised program of work before the completion of the project, if, due to unforeseen contingencies or to changes in field conditions or other similar circumstances, it becomes evident that he cannot successfully accomplish the work within his original program. The Auditor General or his authorized representative 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.

SECTION 7. Rental of Equipment. — Rental of equipment shall not be deducted at the time of the release of funds for public works or even in anticipation of use of the equipment but shall be paid based on actual use when the appropriation so released is P20,000 or below; but when the appropriation so released is above P20,000, and rental of equipment is to be deducted in anticipation of use of the equipment, such deduction shall not be more than ten per centum of the released appropriation.

SECTION 8. Prosecution by Civic Organizations, Barrio Councils, and Parent-Teacher Associations of Certain Community Improvement Projects. — Whenever the appropriation amounting to not more than fifteen thousand pesos for any project authorized in this or in other Public Works Acts is released or made available for expenditure, wholly or partly, such project shall be undertaken by Administration without the necessity of securing previous authority from the Office of the President and the work shall be prosecuted by the Civic Organization or Barrio Council as may be determined by the District or City Engineer concerned, and in the case of a school building project, by the Parent-Teacher Association of the locality, or by Administration, whichever is most advantageous to the project, any provision of existing law or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding. In such case the District or City Engineer's Office shall intervene in a supervisory or advisory capacity and to acquire such data or information as to enable it to prepare a cost-performance report thereof, any provision of existing law or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding. In a community where there is adequate supply of materials, the Civic Organization, Barrio Council, or Parent-Teacher Association, as the case may be, may supply such materials as may be found advantageous in the prosecution of the work. In work prosecuted under this section, the District or City Engineer shall not charge against the fund of the project any expense for inspection. Any provision of existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, the Civic Organization, Barrio Council, or Parent-Teacher Association undertaking the work under this section shall be exempt from all taxes of whatever kind and nature.

When any project does not require complicated methods of construction or highly specialized techniques, the District or City Engineer may turn over to the Municipal Council for execution, preferably to be undertaken by the Barrio Council of the barrio where the project is located, or awarded as 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 for undertaking such work shall be filed by the organization concerned with the District or City Engineer or his official counterpart, as the case may be, specifying, among other things, the barrio-management program of work, or the payment to be received for the work. After evaluating the offers and the terms proposed by the Barrio Council and/or the Civic Organization by comparing them with the corresponding approved program of work and estimate, the work on the project may be turned over to the Barrio Council for prosecution or awarded to the applicant Civic Organization 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 the provisions of existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, the Civic Organization or Barrio Council undertaking any work mentioned in this section shall be exempt from all taxes and impost relating thereto.

The authority of the District or City Engineer or his official counterpart to undertake any work in the manner 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 or City Engineer or his official counterpart, as the case may be, of his supervisory control over any of the projects referred to in this section nor 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 prosecuted by administration of the Barrio Council or through negotiated contract with a Civic Organization, the District or City Engineer, or his representative shall 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 worker-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 two percent of the contract price. The District or City 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.

In any of the aforementioned arrangements, no performance bond shall be required.

SECTION 9. Prohibition in the 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 and supplies, automobiles or station wagons, nor be used to pay salaries or wages of employees not directly engaged in the work on or assigned officially to, projects for which the appropriation has been made, nor be used as aid for calamities.

SECTION 10. Suspension of Work Done by Administration before General Elections. — The provisions of any existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, regardless of the source of funds, within forty-five days before every general or special election, no laborer shall be employed in, or money spent for, any public works project even if the appropriation is actually released before or within such period except for:

(a) Ordinary maintenance of existing and/or completed public works projects: Provided, That no more than the number of usual laborers or employees already employed therein sixty days prior to the beginning of the forty-five day period shall be permitted to work during such time: Provided, further, That no extra gang of laborers shall be employed within the said period of forty-five days;

(b) Work undertaken by contract through public bidding held, or by negotiated contract awarded, 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 by contract;

(c) 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 watchmen 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;

(d) Emergency work necessitated by the occurrence of a public calamity, but such work shall be limited to the restoration of the damaged facility;

(e) No payment should be made five days before the date of election to laborers who rendered service in projects that were overdraft at the time the work was rendered, except those laborers falling under subsections a, b, c and d of this section.

Any violation of the foregoing provisions shall constitute a serious offense punishable under the provisions of the Revised Election Code.

SECTION 11. Payment of Labor and Readjustment of Contracts. — All contracts for the furnishing of materials or supplies and for the construction of any project authorized in this Act, executed by any person, association or corporation with the government after the approval of this Act shall contain provisions adequately covering the prosecution of the following:

(a) The contractor shall provide and have on hand every pay-day, in addition to the usual requirement of cash outlay for 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 every pay-period. Payment of wages and salaries to laborers and employees engaged in the project shall be witnessed by the engineer-in-charge 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;

(b) Should the Government, at any time during the effectivity of a contract, impose, abolish, modify any tax, customs 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 computations in sufficient detail which would determine accurately the amount of the change.

SECTION 12. Preference to Local Labor. — In the execution and construction of projects authorized in this Act, especially of community projects and of school building projects, the labor requirement shall be filled as much as possible by laborers from the place or municipality where the project is being undertaken.

Community projects as well as projects in the rural areas financed by National funds shall be prosecuted by administration of the Barrio Council whenever the people in the barrio or barrios where such projects are located agree to perform the work on the basis of self-help under the supervision of the District Engineer or City Engineer concerned. The Secretary of Public Works and Communications is hereby required to promulgate such rules and regulations as are necessary to safeguard the appropriation of said projects and effectively guide the Barrio Council.

The provisions of this section shall be applicable to all previous Public Works Acts.

SECTION 13. Use of Excess Funds; Inadequate Funds. — Whenever any building project or other community project is completed and a balance of appropriations remains, the district or city engineer may use such balance for the purchase or acquisition of essential equipment or for any urgent improvement work within the building premises, or for covering deficiency of appropriation of any project of the same category within the same municipality.

Whenever the appropriation released for expenditure of any project provided in this Act or in previous Public Works Acts is found, thru the program of work devised therefor pursuant to Section six of this Act, to be inadequate to complete the project or a utile part thereof, the project shall not be prosecuted and in such case, the engineer concerned shall advise Congress accordingly thru the Secretary of Public Works and Communications.

SECTION 14. Use of Private Consulting Services. — The Secretary of Public Works and Communications may, whenever it is deemed necessary and advisable, hire the services of local project consultants or consulting firms, for a fixed fee in any case, to review the project report or plans and specifications for any long-range project authorized in this Act or in previous Public Works Acts devised by the bureau or office concerned, or to prepare the project report including plans and specifications thereof.

SECTION 15. Publication of Call for Bids in Local Newspapers. — Any law, rule or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding, in the calling for bids as required by law for the execution of any public works project, advertisement thereof in any newspaper of general circulation in Manila and/or the locality, or province, or region where the project is located is sufficient compliance to the pertinent provisions of the Revised Administrative Code.

SECTION 16. Purchase of Sites. — Unless otherwise specified in the project item, appropriation herein authorized for construction of any project shall be understood to cover the acquisition or purchase of sites whenever such acquisition or purchase is duly certified as necessary for the prosecution of the project.

SECTION 17. Hydroelectric Installations in Irrigation Canals. — The appropriation authorized in this Act as well as in previous Public Works Acts for irrigation projects shall be understood to include outlays for hydro-electric installations in main canals whenever the hydraulic drop thereof is sufficient to generate appreciable hydroelectric energy: Provided, That the hydroelectric plant shall be operated by the Director of Public Works as part of the irrigation system and the income thereof constituted into a special fund for the amortization of costs of construction of the irrigation projects.

SECTION 18. Purchase of Materials, Equipment and Supplies. — The provisions of existing laws, executive orders, rules and regulations to the contrary notwithstanding, the department head concerned is authorized, in the interest of the public service, subject to auditing requirements, to procure the necessary materials, equipment and supplies needed for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, repair and/or maintenance of any public works project as provided in this and previous acts, regardless of the source of funds: Provided, That when materials and supplies are obtainable locally in the district, city or neighboring district the same may be procured by the district or city engineer without prior authority from the department head: Provided, further, That the Secretary of Public Works and Communications and the Auditor General may promulgate rules and regulations to implement this provision: Provided, finally, That no surcharge shall be imposed for the service of procuring such materials, supplies and equipment.

SECTION 19. The Secretary of Public Works and Communications, upon the recommendation of the Director of Public Works, is authorized to constitute the River Control and Drainage Section of the Bureau of Public Works into a division to be known as Flood Control and Drainage Division.

SECTION 20. Engineering Surcharge. — Any provision of law, executive order, rule or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding, and regardless of the source of funds, no national surcharge shall be collected from the appropriation or expenditures authorized for any category of public works and provincial surcharge on expenditures of appropriations for any public works project shall not exceed four per cent.

SECTION 21. Public Works Appropriations 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 province, chartered city or municipality, as the case may be in which case such funds shall be disbursed as local funds: Provided, That provincial funds allocated as counterpart shall not be considered as national fund.

SECTION 22. Interchangeability of Financing Methods. — Subject to the provisions of Republic Act Numbered One thousand, as amended, upon recommendation of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications and the National Economic Council, the President of the Philippines is authorized to modify the financing methods indicated in this and previous Public Works Acts, so as to enable the department head concerned to undertake projects financed from general revenue with the proceeds from the sale of bonds and/or loans.

SECTION 23. Release of Funds. — Any provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding, upon certification of availability of funds which shall be made monthly in the aggregate by the Commissioner of the Budget, the sums appropriated in this and other Public Works Acts shall be released, either wholly or partially, by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, with the approval of the President of the Philippines over appropriations other than for the ordinary operation of the National Government.

SECTION 24. Appropriations for community and nationwide selected projects shall be released as nearly as possible in proportion to the total sums of appropriations by Congressional District which sums shall be made available for release simultaneously.

SECTION 25. 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 as of date of said report and the percentage of work accomplished and work 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.

SECTION 26. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 17, 1961, except Sections 23 and 24.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 57, No. 52, Page 9356 on December 25, 1961.

Source: CD Asia Online