Amendments to R.A. No. 1478 (Creation of Board of Travel and Tourist Industry)

June 17, 1960

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2627

AN ACT TO AMEND CERTAIN SECTIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED FOURTEEN HUNDRED SEVENTY-EIGHT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO CREATE A BOARD OF TRAVEL AND TOURIST INDUSTRY, DEFINING ITS POWERS, DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES"

SECTION 1. Section one of Republic Act Numbered Fourteen hundred seventy-eight is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 1. There is hereby created a Board of Travel and Tourist Industry to regulate travel and tourism with a view to the development of a prosperous Philippine tourist industry. The Board shall be composed of the Secretary of Commerce, as Chairman, and the undersecretaries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Justice, and Public Works and Communications, the President of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce, the President of the Philippine Tourist and Travel Association and the Commissioner of Tourism, as members. The Commissioner of Tourism shall be executive vice chairman of the Board."

SECTION 2. Paragraphs (a) and (c) of Section two of the same Act are amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 2. (a) It shall coordinate the activities of all agencies of the government which concern travel and tourism;

"(c) It shall undertake the development of tourist attractions and provide and maintain essential facilities for tourists and travellers where private enterprise is not prepared to take care of them and, whenever warranted, extend assistance to private enterprise in undertaking worthwhile projects to provide new plants and conveniences for the tourist industry. Whenever assistance is extended, such assistance must be made on a basis of a loan supported with adequate collateral with yearly interest of three per centum payable in not more than ten-year installments, and provided that the recipient of such assistance shall provide an amount equivalent to the amount of the assistance as counterpart."

SECTION 3. Section five of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 5. An amount not in excess of fifty per cent of such collections and all those which may be effected under Section six shall accrue to the funds of the Board to be spent under its exclusive authority for the general development of tourist facilities and the promotion of tourism. The balance shall be devoted by the Board specifically to the restoration, rehabilitation and acquisition or development of tourist plant establishments, facilities, conveniences and attractions of a historical or cultural character and to foreign publicity, advertising and sales promotion work. Not less than one-third but not more than one-half of the said balance shall be used for foreign operations as herein provided, for which purpose the Central Bank shall make available such foreign exchange as may be certified to and applied for by the Board to meet the requirements of such foreign operations."

SECTION 4. Section six of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 6. The Board shall have exclusive authority to regulate the travel agency business in any form, prescribing the necessary rules to govern the establishment and operation of such business. It shall fix and collect an annual license fee from every individual or group engaged in the travel agency business in an amount not in excess of one hundred pesos a year. No individual or firm shall engage in the travel agency business without being licensed by the Board of Travel and Tourist Industry."

SECTION 5. Section eight of the same Act is hereby amended by adding a new paragraph to be known as paragraph (e) which shall read as follows:

"(e) Effect such other measures as may be deemed proper and necessary to carry out the objectives of this Act."

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 17, 1960

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 56, No. 36, p. 5561 on September 5, 1960