Revision of Fees and Charges at Just and Reasonable Rates Sufficient to Cover Administrative Costs

November 2, 1990 MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 121 DIRECTING ALL DEPARTMENTS, BUREAUS, COMMISSIONS, AGENCIES, OFFICES, AND INSTRUMENTALITIES OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, INCLUDING GOVERNMENT-OWNED OR CONTROLLED CORPORATIONS, TO REVISE THEIR FEES AND CHARGES AT JUST AND REASONABLE RATES SUFFICIENT TO COVER ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS WHEREAS, pursuant to Sec. 54, Chapter 12, Book IV, of Executive Order No. 292 (Administrative Code of 1987), the heads of bureaus, offices, or agencies may, upon approval of the department head, charge and collect the cost of the services rendered by the bureau, office or agency in excess of cost prescribed by law or approved by the same authority; WHEREAS, while Section 1(a) of Batas Pambansa Blg. 325 authorizes all heads of departments, offices, agencies, and commissions of the National Government to revise their fees and charges, subject to the guidelines therein provided, Section 1(b) of the same Act provides that the fees and charges enforced and collected by, among others, government-owned or controlled corporations "shall continue to be determined under existing laws, subject to the guidelines set forth in Section 2 hereof" (B.P. Blg. 325); WHEREAS, the tax subsidy being administered by the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) has to be suspended due to budgetary constraints, and without the tax subsidy granted to various government-owned or controlled corporations, the quality of government services rendered by said corporations may not effectively be improved; THaAEC WHEREAS, there is a need to recover part of the costs of government services rendered not only by the various departments, bureaus, commissions, agencies, offices, and instrumentalities of the national government, but also by government-owned or controlled corporations; IN VIEW THEREOF, all departments, bureaus, commissions, agencies, offices, and instrumentalities of the National Government, including government-owned or controlled corporations, are hereby directed to revise their fees and charges at just and reasonable rates sufficient to cover administrative costs. The revised rates shall, wherever practicable, be uniform for similar or comparable services and functions. The revision of rates shall be determined by the respective department heads, governing boards, or equivalent functionaries, conformably with the rules and regulations to be promulgated by the Department of Finance; Provided that this Memorandum Circular shall not apply to those fees and charges covered by international agreements. The heads of departments shall be responsible for the implementation of this Memorandum Circular in the bureaus, commissions, offices, agencies, and government-owned or controlled corporations within their respective jurisdictions. The rates of fees and charges revised under this Memorandum Circular shall be published once a week for two consecutive weeks in two newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines and shall become effective fifteen days after the last publication. aDHCAE This Memorandum Circular supersedes Memorandum Circular No. 115, dated April 24, 1990. DONE in the City of Manila, this 2nd day of November, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety.