An Act to Create the National Development Company

March 10, 1919

ACT NO. 2849

AN ACT TO CREATE THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COMPANY

SECTION 1. A corporation is hereby organized, which shall be known as the National Development Company, the principal office of which shall be in the city of Manila, and which shall exist for a period of fifty years, from and after the date of the approval of this Act.

SECTION 2. The said corporation shall be subject to the provisions of the Corporation Law in so far as they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, and shall have the general powers mentioned in said Law and such other powers as may be necessary to enable it to promote and maintain a sufficient general production by an efficient coordination of the productive forces of the country, or otherwise, and to secure a stable market for the Philippine products. Without restricting in any manner any of the aims and purposes of the corporation as set forth in this section and in the section next following, it is hereby expressly declared and provided that the National Development Company may engage in commercial, industrial, and other enterprises which may be necessary or contributory to the economic development of the country or important in the public interest; to acquire, hold, mortgage, and alienate personal and real property in the Philippine Islands or elsewhere; to issue bonds and other obligations in payment for property purchased or acquired by it, or for any other object in or about its business; to mortgage or pledge any shares, stocks, bonds or other obligations, or any property which may be acquired by it, to secure any bonds or other obligations by it issued or incurred; to make contracts of any kind and description; to purchase, hold, alienate, mortgage, pledge, or otherwise dispose of the shares of the capital stock of, or any bonds, securities, or other evidences of indebtedness created by any other corporation or corporations, copartnership or copartnerships, of this or any other country, and while owner of said stock, to exercise all the rights of ownership, including the right to vote thereon; and in carrying on its business, or for the purpose of attaining or furthering any of its objects, as authorized in this Act, to perform any and all acts which a copartnership or natural person is authorized to perform under the laws now existing or which may be enacted hereafter.

SECTION 3. The capital of said corporation shall be fifty million pesos divided into five hundred thousand shares of stock having a par value of one hundred pesos each, and no stock of said corporation shall be issued at less than par nor except for cash.

SECTION 4. The Governor-General, on behalf of the Government of the Philippine Islands, shall subscribe for not less than fifty one per centum of said capital stock, and the remainder may be offered to the provincial and municipal governments or to the public at a price not less than par which the Board of Directors shall from time to time determine. The number of shares of stock that may be sold to or purchased by any person, private corporation, association or copartnership, shall in no case be more than one hundred. Ten per centum of the value of all stock subscribed shall be paid at the time of the subscription, and the balance thereof shall be paid at such time as shall be prescribed by the Board of Directors. The voting power of all such stock owned by the Government of the Philippine Islands shall be vested exclusively in a committee consisting of the Governor-General and the presiding officers of both Houses of the Legislature.

SECTION 5. There are hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as may be necessary to pay for the shares of stock of the National Development Company acquired by the Insular Government: Provided, however, That no sum shall be set up on the books of the Auditor until it shall be necessary to make the payment or payments authorized by this Act: And provided, further, That unless otherwise provided by the Philippine Legislature, the sum available for investment during the year nineteen hundred and nineteen shall not exceed ten million pesos, and a like sum shall constitute the maximum that may be invested during each succeeding year. CAIHTE

SECTION 6. The Board of Directors of the corporation shall consist of not more than nine members.

SECTION 7. The penalty of a fine not exceeding five thousand pesos, or of imprisonment for not more than five years, or both, shall be imposed on (a) whoever makes any statement, knowing it to be false, for the purpose of obtaining for himself or for any other person, firm, corporation, or association any funds or thing of value under the provisions of this Act; (b) whoever willfully overvalues any security by which any such advance is secured; (c) whoever falsely makes, forges, or counterfeits any bond, coupon, or paper in imitation of or purporting to be in imitation of a bond or coupon issued by the National Development Company, or passes, utters, or publishes, or attempts to pass, utter, or publish, any false, forged or counterfeited bond, coupon, or paper purporting to be issued by said Company, knowing the same to be falsely made, forged or counterfeited; or falsely alters any such bond, coupon or paper; or passes, utters, or publishes as true any falsely altered or spurious bond, coupon, or paper issued or purporting to have been issued by said company, knowing the same to be falsely altered or spurious; (d) whoever being connected in any capacity with the company herein created, embezzles, abstracts, or willfully misapplies any moneys, funds, or credits thereof, or with intent to defraud the company herein created, makes any false entry in any book, report or statement of said company; (e) whoever reveals or divulges the secrets of said corporation or of any other corporations or persons with whom said company has or has had business relations, when such secrets have come to his knowledge on account of his office or employment, public or private, or on occasion of his business transactions or relations with the National Development Company.

SECTION 8. The Philippine Legislature hereby expressly reserves the power to alter, amend or repeal this Act and any of its amendments, or any part thereof.

SECTION 9. This Act shall take effect on its approval.

Approved, March 10, 1919.