Amendments to R.A. No. 997 (Reorganization Act of 1954) Re: Survey and Reorganization Commission

June 9, 1955

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1241

AN ACT TO AMEND CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY-SEVEN, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE "REORGANIZATION ACT OF 1954," APPROVED JUNE NINE, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

SECTION 1. Paragraph one of section three of Republic Act Numbered nine hundred and ninety-seven, otherwise known as the "Reorganization Act of 1954," is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 3. To carry out the purposes of this Act, there is hereby created the Government Survey and Reorganization Commission, hereinafter known as the "Commission", which shall conduct a study of the present organization and methods of operation of all departments, offices, bureaus, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Executive Branch of the National Government, and determine what change or changes are necessary to accomplish the objectives set forth in subsection (a), section two of this Act.

SECTION 2. Section four of the same Act is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 4. To accomplish the objectives set forth in subsection (a), section two of this Act, the Commission is authorized:

(1) to group, coordinate or consolidate departments, bureaus, offices, agencies, instrumentalities and functions of government;

(2) to abolish departments, offices, agencies or functions which may not be necessary or create those which may be necessary for the efficient conduct of the government service, activities and functions;

(3) to eliminate overlapping and duplication of services, activities and functions of the government;

(4) to transfer functions, appropriations, equipment, property, records, and personnel, from one department, bureau, office, agency, or instrumentality to another;

(5) to create, classify, combine, split or abolish positions;

(6) to standardize salaries, materials and equipment; and

(7) to do whatever is necessary and desirable to effect economy and promote efficiency in the government.

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

"SEC. 5. (a) Whenever the Commission, after study and investigation finds that there is a necessity to accomplish one or more of the purposes of subsection 2 (a), it shall prepare and submit to the President of the Philippines who may submit the same to the Congress, an organization plan or plans or modifications thereof (bearing an identifying number) together with a declaration that, with respect to each reorganization included in the plan or plans or modifications thereof, it has found that such reorganization is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes of subsection 2 (a): Provided, That such reorganization shall be within the limits of current appropriations.

(b) No provision contained in the reorganization plan shall take effect unless the plan is transmitted to Congress on or before the twentieth session day of the Third Regular Session of the Third Congress.

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

"SEC. 6. (a) The provisions of the reorganization plan or plans submitted by the President during the Second Session of the Third Congress shall be deemed approved after the adjournment of the said session, and those of the plan or plans or modifications of any plan or plans to be submitted after the adjournment of the Second Session, shall be deemed approved after the expiration of the seventy session days of the Congress following the date on which the plan is transmitted to it, unless between the date of transmittal and the expiration of such period, either House by simple resolution disapproves the reorganization plan or any modification thereof. The said plan or reorganization or any modification thereof may, likewise, be approved by Congress in a concurrent Resolution within such period.

"(b) For the purposes of subsection (a) hereof the running of the seventy-day period shall be suspended during the adjournment of Congress, and the same shall commence to run again on the day the Congress next meets either in regular or in special session, when specifically authorized in case of a special session to act on said plan or plans of reorganization. cd

"(c) After any reorganization plan or plans or modifications thereof shall have been approved as provided under subsection (a) hereof, the Commission shall prepare the implementing details thereof, should such details be necessary and the same shall be submitted to the President, who, if he approves them, shall promulgate an executive order or orders for their immediate execution: Provided, however, That if any such reorganization plan or plans or modifications thereof is not implemented as above provided, the particular department, office, bureau, agency, or instrumentality of the Executive Branch of the National Government affected shall continue to exist and function.

SECTION 5. Section seven of the same Act is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 7. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act, the Commission, or any member thereof, or division thereof, may hold such hearings and sit and act at such times and places, and take such testimony, as the Commission may, by internal rule, provide.

"The Commission is authorized to secure directly from any executive department, bureau, office, agency or instrumentality, suggestions, estimates and statistics for the purposes of this Act; and each such department, bureau, office, agency or instrumentality is authorized and directed to furnish such information, suggestions, and estimates directly to the Commission, upon request by the chairman or vice-chairman of said Commission or of any division or member thereof.

"The Commission or any division or member thereof shall have the power to administer oaths or affirmations to witnesses appearing before the Commission or before such division or member thereof, summon witnesses by subpoena, and by subpoena duces tecum require the production of books, papers, records or documents which may be needed as evidence of any matter under inquiry. Any person, properly served, who refuses or neglects to appear before the Commission, shall be liable to punishment by the Supreme Court or the court of first instance, as the case may be, in the same manner and to the same extent as if he had disobeyed a subpoena issued out of the Supreme Court or the court of first instance in a matter pending before either of said courts.

SECTION 6. Section eight of the same Act is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 8. On December thirty-one, nineteen hundred and fifty-six the Commission shall cease to exist. cd i

SECTION 7. Section nine of the same Act is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 9. The term 'government', 'agency', 'instrumentality', or 'office', used in this Act means the executive department, bureau, commission, council, board, office, division, service, administration, government-owned or controlled corporation, authority, or any establishment of the National Government.

SECTION 8. Notwithstanding the expiration of the thirty-day period originally provided in section six of Republic Act Numbered Nine hundred ninety-seven, the plans submitted to the Congress by the President on or prior to March fifteen, nineteen hundred and fifty-five shall be considered as still subject to the action of the Congress under the terms of said section six as amended by this Act.

SECTION 9. To carry out the provisions of this Act, the sum of three hundred thousand pesos and any unexpended balance of the amount appropriated in section twelve of Republic Act Numbered Nine hundred ninety-seven, or so much thereof as may be necessary to cover the expenses of the Commission from the tenth day of June, nineteen hundred and fifty-five to the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and fifty-six, is appropriated out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

SECTION 10. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 9, 1955

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 51, No. 6, p. 2806 in June 1955