PLAI

Statute

Public Service Act

62 provisions · showing CHAPTER I (15) · source

Section 1

The State recognize the role of the private sector as one of the main engines for national growth and development. It is hereby declared the policy of the State to encourage private enterprise and expand the base of investment in the country, with the goal of providing efficient, reliable and affordable basic services to all. These policies are fulfilled by: (a) ensuring effective regulation of public services; (b) providing reasonable rate of return to public services; (c) rationalizing foreign equity restrictions by clearly defining the term "public utilities"; and (d) instituting processes for the protection of national security.

Section 1

This Act shall be known as the "Public Service Act."

Sec 2

There is created under the Department of Justice a commission which shall be designated and known as the Public Service Commission, composed of one Public Service Commissioner and five Associate Commissioners, and which shall be vested with the powers and duties hereafter specified. Whenever the word 'Commission' is used in this Act, it shall be held to mean the Public Service Commission, and whenever the word 'Commissioner' is used in this Act it shall be held to mean the Public Service Commissioner or anyone of the Associate Commissioners. The Public Service Commissioner and the Associate Public Service Commissioners shall be natural born citizens and residents of the Philippines, not under thirty years of members of the Bar of the Philippines, with at least five years of law practice or five years of employment in government service requiring a lawyer's diploma; and shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines, with consent of the Commission on Appointments of the Congress of the Philippines: Provided, however, That the present Commissioner and the personnel of the Commission shall continue in office without the necessity of reappointment. The Commissioners shall have the rank and privilege of retirement of Judges of the Courts of First Instance. (As amended by RA Nos 178, 2677)

Sec 2 · cited in the answer

For the purposes of this Act, the terms below shall be defined as follows: (a) Administrative Agency or Administrative Agencies, as the case may be, refers to relevant government agencies, to which the powers and duties of the Public Service Commission were transferred pursuant to existing laws. All mention of the word "Commission" in this Act shall now refer to this term; (b) Certificates refer to any franchise, certificate of public convenience, certificate of public convenience and necessity, concession, or any other appropriate form of authorization for the operation of a public service, including a public utility, as may be applicable; (c) Concession refers to a contract granting a private concessionaire the privilege to, among others, finance, construct, manage, operate and/or maintain concession assets; (d) Concessionaire refers to a person, corporation, firm or association awarded a concession; (e) Critical Infrastructure refers to any public service which owns, uses, or operates systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the Republic of the Philippines that the incapacity or destruction of such systems or assets would have a detrimental impact on national security, including telecommunications and other such vital services as may be declared by the President of the Philippines; (f) Distribution of Electricity refers to the conveyance of electric power by a distribution utility through its distribution system as defined by Section 4(n) of Republic Act No. 9136, otherwise known as the "Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001", as amended; (g) Foreign State-owned Enterprise refers to an entity in which a foreign State: (i) directly or indirectly owns more than fifty-percent (50%) of the capital taking into account both the voting rights and beneficial ownership; (ii) control, through ownership interests, the exercise of more than fifty percent (50%) of the voting rights; or (iii) holds the power to appoint a majority of members of the board of directors or any other equivalent management body; (h) National Security refers to the requirements and conditions necessary to ensure the territorial integrity of the country and the safety, security, and well-being of Filipino citizens; (i) Petroleum and petroleum Product Pipeline Transmission Systems refer to the operation and maintenance of pipeline transmission systems to ensure an uninterrupted and adequate supply and transmission of petroleum and petroleum products to the public; and excludes petroleum pipeline systems operated exclusively for private or own use, or incidental to the operations of a distinct business; (j) Philippine National refers to citizens, partnerships, associations, and corporations defined by Section 3(a) of Republic Act No. 7042, otherwise known as the "Foreign Investments Act of 1991", as amended; (k) Public Utility Vehicles (PUVs) refer to internal combustion engine vehicles that carry passengers and/or domestic cargo for a fee, offering services to the public, namely trucks-for-hire, UV express service, public utility buses (PUBs), public utility jeepneys (PUJs), tricycles, filcabs, and taxis: Provided, That transport vehicles accredited with and operating through transport network corporations shall not be considered as public utility vehicles; (l) Seaport refers to a place where ships may anchor or tie up for the purpose of shelter, repair, loading or discharge of passengers or cargo, or for other such activities connected with water-borne commerce, and including all the land and water areas and the structures, equipment and facilities related to these functions, as defined by the charters of relevant authorities or agencies, such as the Philippine Ports Authority, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate Authority, Cebu Port Authority, local government units, and other similar agencies or government bodies; (m) Telecommunications refers to any process which enables a telecommunications entity to relay and receive voice, data, electronic messages, written or printed matter, fixed or moving pictures, words, music or visible or audible signals or any control signals of any design and for any purpose by wire, radio or other electromagnetic, spectral, optical or technological means, as defined by Section 3(a) of Republic Act No. 7925, otherwise known as the "Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines", as amended, except passive telecommunications tower infrastructure and components, such as, but not limited to, poles, fiber ducts, dark fiber cables, and passive telecommunications tower infrastructure, as defined by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and value-added services, as defined in Section 3(h) of Republic Act No. 7925, as amended; (n) Transmission of Electricity refers to the conveyance of electricity through the high voltage backbone system, as defined by Section 4(cc) of Republic Act No. 9136, as amended; (o) Water Pipeline Distribution Systems and Wastewater Pipeline Systems refer to the operation and maintenance of water pipeline distribution systems to ensure an uninterrupted and adequate supply and distribution of potable water for domestic and other purposes and the operation and maintenance of wastewater pipeline systems, except desludging companies and septic tanks, to ensure public health and safety, as regulated by Republic Act No. 6234, entitled "An Act Creating the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and Dissolving the National Waterworks and Sewerage Authority; and for Other Purposes", as amended, and Presidential Decree No. 198, otherwise known as the "Provincial Water Utilities Act of 1973", as amended; and (p) Sewerage Pipeline Systems refers to the operation and maintenance of sewerage pipeline systems to ensure public health and safety, as regulated by Republic Act No. 6234, as amended, and Presidential Decree No. 198, as amended.

Sec 3

All references to the Public Service Commission in Commonwealth Act No. 146, as amended, shall pertain to any Administrative Agency to which the powers and duties of the Public Service Commission were transferred by subsequent laws, such as but not limited to: (a) Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB); (b) Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP); (c) Department of Energy (DOE); (d) Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); (e) DICT; (f) Department of Transportation (DOTr); (g) Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC); (h) Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB); (i) Land Transportation Office (LTO); (j) Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA); (k) Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA); (l) Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS); (m) National Telecommunication Commission (NTC); (n) National Water Resources Board (NWRB); (o) Philippine National Railways (PNR); (p) Philippine Ports Authority (PPA); and (q) Toll Regulatory Board (TRB).

Sec 3

The Commissioner and Associate Commissioners shall hold office until they reach the age of seventy years, or until removed in accordance with the procedure prescribed in section one hundred and seventy-three of Act Numbered Twenty-seven hundred and eleven, known as the Revised Administrative Code: Provided, however, That upon retirement, any Commissioner or Associate Commissioner shall be entitled to all retirement benefits and privileges for Judges of the Courts of First Instance or under the retirement law to which he may be entitled on the date of his retirement. In case of the absence, for any reason, of the Public Service Commissioner, the Associate Commissioner with seniority of appointment shall act as Commissioner. If on account of absence, illness, or incapacity of any of the Commissioners, or whenever by reason of temporary disability of any Commissioner or of a vacancy occurring therein, the requisite number of Commissioners necessary to render a decision or issue an order in any case is not present, or in the event of a tie vote among the Commissioners, the Secretary of Justice may designate such number of Judges of the Courts of First Instance, or such number of attorneys of the legal division of the Commission, as may be necessary, to sit temporarily as Commissioners in the Public Service Commission. The Public Service Commission shall sit individually or as a body en banc or in two divisions of three Commissioners each. The Public Service Commissioner shall preside when the Commission sits en banc and in one division. In the other division, the Associate Commissioner with seniority of appointment in that division shall preside. Five Commissioners shall constitute a quorum for sessions en banc and two Commissioners shall constitute a quorum for the sessions of a division. In the absence of a quorum, the session shall be adjourned until the requisite number is present. All the powers herein vested upon the Commission shall be considered vested upon any of the Commissioners, acting either individually or jointly as hereinafter provided. The Commissioners shall equitably divide among themselves all pending cases and those that may hereafter be submitted to the Commission, in such manner and form as they may determine, and shall proceed to hear and determine the case assigned to each or to their respective divisions, or to the Commission en banc as follows: uncontested cases, except those pertaining to the fixing of rates, shall be decided by one Commissioner; contested cases and all cases involving the fixing of rates shall be decided by the Commission in division and the concurrence of at least two Commissioners in the division shall be necessary for the promulgation of a decision or non-interlocutory order in these cases: Provided, however, That any motion for reconsideration of a decision or non-interlocutory order of any Commissioner or division shall be heard directly by the Commission en banc and the concurrence of at least four Commissioners shall be necessary for the promulgation of a final decision or order resolving such motion for reconsideration. (As amended by RA Nos 178, 723, 2677)

Sec 4

The Public Service Commissioner shall receive an annual compensation of thirteen thousand pesos; and each of the Associate Commissioners an annual compensation of twelve thousand pesos. The Commissioners shall be assisted by one chief attorney, one finance and rate regulation officer, one chief utilities regulation engineer, one chief accountant, one transportation regulation chief, one secretary of the Public Service Commission, and three public utilities advisers who shall receive an annual compensation of not less than ten thousand eight hundred pesos each; five assistant chiefs of division who shall receive an annual compensation of not less than nine thousand six hundred pesos each; twelve attorneys who shall receive an annual compensation of not less than nine thousand pesos each; and a technical and confidential staff to be composed of two certified public accountants, two electrical engineers, two mechanical or communication engineers, and two special assistants who shall receive an annual compensation of not less than seven thousand two hundred pesos each. (As amended by RA Nos 178, 723, 2677, 3792)

Sec 5

The Public Service Commissioner, the Associate Public Service Commissioners, and all other officers and employees of the Public Service Commission shall enjoy the same privileges and rights as the officers and employees of the classified civil service of the Government of the Philippines. They shall also be entitled to receive from the Government of the Philippines their necessary traveling expenses while traveling on the business of the Commission, which shall be paid on proper voucher therefor, approved by the Secretary of Justice, out of funds appropriated for the contingent expenses of the Commission. When the exigency of the service so requires, and With the approval of the Secretary of Justice, and subject to the provisions of Commonwealth Act Numbered Two hundred forty-six, as amended, funds may be set aside from the appropriations provided for the Commission and/or from the fees collected under Section forty of this Act to defray the expenses to be incurred by the Public Service Commissioner or any of the Associate Commissioners, officers or employees of the Commission to be designated by the Commissioner, with the approval of the Secretary of Justice, in the study of modern trends in supervision and regulation of public services. (As amended by RA No 3792)

Sec 6

The Secretary of Justice, upon recommendation of the Public Service Commissioner, shall appoint all subordinate officers and employees of the Commit as may be provided in the Appropriation Act. The Public Service Commissioner shall have general executive control, direction, and supervision over the work of the Commission and of its members, body and personnel, and over all administrative business. (As amended by RA Nos 178, 3792)

Sec 7

The secretary of the Commission, under the direction of the Commissioner, shall have charge of the administrative business of the Commission and shall perform such other duties as may be required of him. He shall be the recorder and official reporter of the proceedings of the Commission and shall have authority to administer oaths in all matters coming under the jurisdiction of the Commission. He shall be the custodian of the records, maps, profiles, tariffs, itineraries, reports, and any other documents and papers filed with the Commission or entrusted to his care and shall be responsible therefor to the Commission. He shall have authority to designate from time to time any of his delegates to perform the duties of deputy secretary with any of the Commissioners.

Sec 8

The Commissioner shall furnish to the secretary such of its findings and decisions as in its judgment may be of general public interest; the secretary shall compile the same for the purpose of publication in a series of volumes to be designated "Reports of the Public Service Commission of the Philippines," which shall be published in such form and manner as may be best adapted for public information and use, and such authorized publications shall be competent evidence of the reports and decisions of the Commission therein contained without any further proof or authentication thereof.

Sec 9

No member or employee of the Commission shall publicly have any official or professional relation with any public service as herein defined, or hold any other office of profit, or trust with the Government of the Philippines or of the United States.

Sec 10

The Commission shall have its office in the City of Manila or at such other place as may be designated, and may hold hearings on any proceedings at such times and places, within the Philippines, as it may provide by order in writing: Provided, That during the months of April and May of each year, at least three Commissioners shall be on vacation in such manner that once every two years at least three of them shall be on duty during April and May: Provided, however, That in the interest of public service, the Secretary of Justice may require any or all of the Commissioners not on duty to render services and perform their duties during the vacation months. (As amended by RA Nos 178, 2677, 3792)

Sec 11

The Commission shall have the power to make needful rules for its government and other proceedings not inconsistent with this Act and shall adopt a common seal; and judicial notice shall be taken of such seal. True copies of said rules and their amendments shall be promptly furnished to the Bureau of Printing and shall be forthwith published in the Official Gazette.

Sec 12

The Commission shall report annually, as soon as practicable after the first day of January of each year, to the Secretary of Justice, making such recommendations as it may deem proper. Provisions from RA No 11659