Revised Policy in the Preparation/Release of DILG Administrative Issuances

March 9, 2016

DILG CIRCULAR NO. 006-16

 

I. Preparatory Statement

This Circular is hereby issued for purposes of uniformity and in order to guide all concerned in the preparation, clearance, reproduction, distribution and release of administrative issuances in the Department. By virtue hereof, DILG Circular No. 73-1 dated February 19, 1973 and all other issuances inconsistent herewith are hereby revoked.

II. Types or Categories of Administrative Issuances

Administrative issuances prepared and issued by the Department shall be limited to Circular, Office Circular, Memorandum Circular, Department Order, Memorandum, Bulletin, Manual, Handbook and Coffee Table Book. No other type of administrative issuances not provided in this Circular shall be prepared and/or issued. Each type of administrative issuance is hereby defined as follows:

1. Circular — Circular shall be issued to cover administrative instructions which are directory or informative in nature, more or less permanent in duration, requiring compliance by, or information of all DILG personnel (Central, Regional and Field Offices) and dealing with subjects as decentralization, delegation of authority, involving standard operating procedures, creation of permanent committees, personnel conduct and the like. It may also contain implementing instructions or regulations from other government agencies which are more or less permanent in duration and are applicable to or requiring compliance by, a majority or all of the employees in the Department whether in the Central, Regional or Field Offices.

2. Office Circular — Office Circular shall be issued to cover administrative instructions which are directory, advisory or informative in nature, more or less permanent in duration, but are applicable to, and/or require compliance by, or information of, a majority or all of the Department employees in the Central Office only, but not those in the Regional or Field Offices, such as internal delegation of authority, policy on the use of finger scan machine, and others.

3. Memorandum Circular — This category shall be used to cover matters that are dealing with subjects not properly belonging to either one of the two (2) categories of circulars described above. It shall contain administrative instructions which are directory, advisory or informative in nature, more or less general in application, permanent in duration and requiring compliance by, or observance from, or information of, the employees of the Department and its clientele (e.g., local government units) or the general public. They may prescribe certain rules, requirements or procedures, or they may merely relay information for the guidance of those concerned. ETHIDa

4. Department Order — Department Order shall be issued to cover matters affecting the status of personnel to include assignments, reassignments, details, designations, commendations, supervisory assignments, change of name and civil status in the case of women who marry and other allied matters. A Department Order may also be issued in the matter of attendance and participation of department employees in trainings/seminars and other related activities.

 At the Regional and Provincial levels, Regional Orders and Provincial Orders may be issued to cover matters enumerated above, depending on the extent of delegated authority.

 Whenever necessary, bureau/service directors and chiefs of divisions may also issue orders to effect assignment, reassignment, designation or detail of personnel within their respective jurisdictions, furnishing copies thereof to the Secretary, the Chief of Personnel Division, the Records Section, and other units concerned. To distinguish them from Department Orders, these orders shall bear the appropriate caption, e.g., BLGS OFFICE ORDER, ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE OFFICE ORDER, GENERAL SERVICES DIVISION OFFICE ORDER, etc.

5. Memorandum — Memorandum shall be issued for administrative instructions which are directory, advisory or informative in nature, intended for internal administration, and are temporary in duration. Memorandum shall also be used as follow-up of, or to call attention to, or serve as a reminder of, or request compliance with, a Circular, Office Circular, Memorandum Circular or Order previously issued.

 Memorandum may be of general application, which requires compliance by, or information of, a majority of all of the personnel of the Department, whether in the Central, Regional or Field Offices.

 It may also be of limited application such as those directed to, or requiring performance of an action by, an individual or group of individuals within a particular unit, section, division, service, bureau or region.

 Bureau/Service Directors and Chiefs of divisions, sections or other units may issue administrative instructions to their respective personnel in the form of a Memorandum.

 Subordinate officials may, however, write a "MEMORANDUM FOR" (never "MEMORANDUM TO") their superiors on matters which are advisory or informative in nature.

6. Bulletin — Bulletin shall be issued to announce incidents or events which are extra official in character, such as death of an employee and socials or matters of personal interest to the officials and employees of the Department.

7. Manual — Manual shall cover compilations of policies and shall be used in situations where instructions are more or less permanent or not subject to frequent change.

8. Handbook — Handbook shall be used primarily to transmit technical information of non-directive character.

9. Coffee Table Book — Coffee Table Book is an oversized, usually hard-covered back purposely for display on a table intended for use in an area in which one entertains guests and from which it can serve to inspire conversation. Its subject matter is predominantly non-fiction and pictorial (a photo-book). Its pages consist mainly of photographs and illustrations, accompanied by captions and small blocks of text, as opposed to long prose. Since they are aimed to be read by anyone who might pick up the book for a light reading, the analysis inside is often more basic and with less jargon than other books on the subject. (Wikipedia)

III Administrative Issuances at the Regional and Provincial Levels

Regional and Provincial offices of the Department may prepare and release administrative issuance analogous to those described above, within the extent of delegated authority. However, such issuance shall have in their captions the words "REGIONAL" and "PROVINCIAL" respectively, before the issuance nomenclature, such as REGIONAL CIRCULAR, REGIONAL OFFICE CIRCULAR, REGIONAL MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR, REGIONAL MEMORANDUM, REGIONAL ORDER, PROVINCIAL CIRCULAR, PROVINCIAL ORDER, PROVINCIAL MEMORANDUM, etc., as the case may be. Such issuances prepared and released at the regional and provincial levels shall also be governed by the provisions of this Circular, insofar as they are applicable.

IV. Format of Administrative Issuances

Administrative issuances of the Department shall follow the intended form, as may be seen in the format of this Circular. cSEDTC

1. Caption — Each issuance shall bear the appropriate caption indicating the category or type of issuance, written in ALL CAPITAL and BOLD LETTERS and aligned with the left margin.

2. Number — All administrative issuances, including Memorandum of general application but excluding Manual and Memorandum of limited application, shall be numbered consecutively by calendar years.

 This shall be indicated immediately below the issuance category, as may be seen in the first page of this Circular. The first four (4) digits shall represent the calendar year when the issuance was prepared and the number after the hyphen shall represent the serial number of the specific issuance.

 The Records Section, General Services Division, Administrative Service, shall be responsible for controlling and assigning numbers of all administrative issuances prepared in the Central Office, while the Records Unit, Finance and Administrative Division shall assume such responsibility in the case of Regional Offices.

3. Subject — Every issuance shall treat of only one principal subject, which shall be stated as briefly as possible, preferably not exceeding ten (10) words. The word subject, followed by a colon, and each word of the subject shall be typed also in ALL CAPITAL AND BOLD LETTERS.

4. Spacing — Generally, there shall be two (2) vertical spaces between each part of the issuance, except in the case of the written signature, which shall have five (5) vertical spaces from the last line of the body of the issuance. Likewise, there shall be two (2) vertical spaces between paragraphs and sub-paragraphs, but single-spacing shall be observed within paragraphs and sub-paragraphs.

5. Margin — Margin for all types of issuance shall be normal, thus, all sides shall have a margin of one inch (1").

6. Identifying Initials — Like in other communications, identifying initials shall be placed in all administrative issuances of the Department. These initials shall be typed two (2) vertical spaces from the preceding part (usually the position/designation of the official signing the issuance), aligned with the left margin. The first line of the identifying initials shall consist of the bureau or service, followed by the division and if necessary, the section, each separated by a colon (:) or a bar (/) and typed in all capital letters. The second line shall indicate, in all capital letters, the initials of the official who dictated or prepared the issuance, followed by a colon or a bar, and the initials of the typist, typed in small letters. When two or more officials took part in the preparation of the issuance, their initials shall both be shown, those of the senior preceding those of the junior, and separated by a colon or a bar. When two typists cooperatively did the typing of an issuance, as when one drafted and the other finalized it, both their initials should appear, separated by a hyphen. Font size for identifying initials is 8.

7. Format for Memorandum — In the case of Memorandum of limited application, the following format shall be used:

MEMORANDUM
TO	:
FROM	:
SUBJECT	:
DATE	:

 For Memorandum from subordinates, the word FOR shall be substituted by the word TO. If and when necessary, the word THRU may be inserted between TO and FROM, to show the name and position of the official through whom the Memorandum shall be coursed. Should the writer so decide, the FROM portion may be omitted, especially when the signature portion is placed below the body of the issuance.

 In certain instances where there is no signature portion placed below the body of the Memorandum, the sender shall sign over his/her typed name, or immediately after the designation but on the same line, in the FROM portion. A similar procedure may be followed in the THRU portion, wherein the person through whom the Memorandum is coursed, may sign over or after his name to show that he has noted the contents of the Memorandum.

8. Paper Size and Text Format — For purposes of uniformity and orderly file arrangement, all administrative issuances shall be prepared in A4 size (8.27" x 11.69") paper. However, manuals may be prepared on smaller or convenient sizes of paper, especially when they are printed and/or book bound.

V. Reproduction, Release and Distribution of Administrative Issuances

All administrative issuance shall be scanned and saved into a Portable Document Format (PDF) by the authorized Records Section personnel, for dissemination to concerned offices, through electronic mail (e-mail) system. When hard copies are needed, the Records Section shall be responsible in the reproduction of such issuances. SDAaTC

VI. Filing of Certified Copies of Administrative Issuances to the University of The Philippines Law Center-Office of the National Administrative Register (UPLC-ONAR)

Pursuant to Section 3, Chapter 2, Book VII of the Executive Order No. 292 (Administrative Code of 1987)and UPLC-ONAR Memorandum, dated May 21, 1990 and Memorandum Order, dated January 2, 2004, three (3) certified true copies of the Department's issuances shall be filed with the UPLC-ONAR, pertaining, but not limited to, the following rules and regulations:

1. Statements of general applicability which implement or interpret a law;

2. Statements of general applicability which fix and describe the procedure in, or practice requirements of, an agency;

3. Amendments or repeal of any prior rule;

4. Regulations affecting private rights, privilege, occupation or business; and

5. Administrative disciplinary action and the governing rules of procedures.

Rules and regulations which need not be filed with the UPLC-ONAR shall, among others, include but not limited to, the following:

1. Those regulations which are interpretative and those merely internal in nature, that is, regulating only the personnel of the Administrative Agency and not the public;

2. Instructions on the case studies made in petition for adoption;

3. Rules laid down by the head of a government agency on the assignments or workload of his/her personnel or the wearing of uniforms;

4. Rules and regulations affecting only a particular or specific sector and circularized to them;

5. Instructions by administrative supervisors concerning the rules and guidelines to be followed by their subordinates in the performance of their duties;

6. Memoranda or statements concerning the internal administration or management of an agency not affecting the rights of, or procedure available to, the public; and

7. Memoranda or circulars merely disseminating any law, executive order, proclamation and issuances of other government agencies.

The sharing fee as prescribed and fixed by the UPLC-ONAR shall be charged to the operating expenses of the Records Section/Unit.

VII. Repeal, Rescission or Amendment of Administrative Issuances

Any repeal, rescission or amendment of any previous issuances shall invariably be made through another issuance of the same type or category.

If there is amendment in certain portion/s of the previously issued issuance which covers matters pertaining to GUIDELINES, POLICIES, RULES AND REGULATIONS, the following shall be considered in the preparation of the new issuance:

1. All contents of the previous issuance shall be affirmed in the new issuance except with the portion/s to be modified, which shall be directly replaced by the amended statement, written in italic and bold letters;

2. The subject in the new issuance shall bear the word "REVISED" added to the subject of the previous issuance.

 

Example: Subject of Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 2011-164
Subject of	:	Training Policies for Local Government
Previous MC		Operations Officers II and III
Subject of	:	Revised Training Policies for Local Government
New MC		Operations Officers II and III

3. The repealing and effectivity clause, should mention the number and date of the previous issuance/s being repealed, amended and/or modified.

However, when the amending issuances cover matters that do not pertain to policies, the following points shall be considered:

1. Include the word "Amendment to" followed by the number and date of the issuance being amended in the subject of the issuance.

2. May directly mention the amended portion/s in the body of the issuance without writing all the contents of the previously issued issuances.

3. Cite in the repealing and effectivity clause, the number and date of the previous issuance/s being repealed, amended and/or modified.

VIII. Effectivity of Issuances

A statement as to when the issuance shall take effect shall be made in any issuance which is directory in nature. However, as a general rule, an issuance shall not take effect unless copies thereof have been accordingly disseminated or received by all concerned. As much as possible, no issuance shall have a retroactive effectivity. acEHCD

This Circular shall take effect immediately. The Records Section, GSD, AS are hereby directed to ensure its widest dissemination for the information and guidance of all concerned employees and officials of this Department.

For strict compliance.

(SGD.) MEL SENEN S. SARMIENTOSecretary