Republic Act No. 178
AN ACT TO AMEND CERTAIN SECTION OF COMMONWEALTH ACT NUMBERED ONE HUNDRED FORTY-SIX, AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE PUBLIC SERVICE ACT, SO AS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF COMMISSIONERS IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION AND TO CREATE AN OFFICE TO BE KNOWN AS THE OFFICE OF THE PEOPLE’S COUNSEL IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
SECTION 1. Section two, three, four, six, ten, and thirty-eight of Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred and forty-six, as amended, are hereby further amended to read as follows:
“SEC. 2. There is created a Commission which shall be designated and known as
the Public Service Commission, composed of one Public Service Commissioner and
two Associate Commissioners, and which shall be vested with the powers and
duties hereafter specified. Whenever the word ‘Commission’ is used in this Act,
it shall be held to mean the Public Service Commission, and whenever the word
‘Commissioner’ is used in this Act it shall be held to mean the Public Service
Commissioner or either of the Associate Commissioners.
“The Public Service Commissioner and the Associate Public Service Commissioners
shall be citizens and residents of the Philippines, not under thirty years of
age; members of the Bar of the Philippines, and shall be appointed by the
President of the Philippines, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments
of the Congress of the Philippines.
“SEC. 3. The Commissioner and Associate Commissioners shall hold office until
they reach the age of seventy years, or until removed in accordance with the
procedure prescribed in section one hundred and seventy-three of Act Numbered
Twenty-seven hundred and eleven, known as the Revised Administrative Code.
In case of the absence, for any reason, of the Public Service Commissioner, the
Associate Commissioner with seniority of appointment shall act as Commissioner.
If on account of absence, illness, or incapacity of any of the Commissioners, or
whenever by reason of temporary disability of any Commissioner or of a vacancy
occurring therein, the requisite number of Commissioners necessary to render a
decision or issue an order in any case is not present, or in the event of a tie
vote among the Commissioner, the Secretary of Justice may designate such number
of Judges of the Court of First Instance, as may be necessary, to sit
temporarily as Commissioners in the Public Service Commission.
“All the powers herein vested upon the Commission shall be considered vested
upon any of the Commissioners, acting either individually or jointly as
hereinafter provided. The Commissioners shall equitably divide among themselves
all pending cases and those that may hereafter be submitted to the Commission,
in such manner and form as they may determine, and shall proceed to hear and
determine the cases assigned to each: Provided, however, That (1) all
contested cases, (2) all cases involving the fixing of rates, and (3) all
petitions for reconsideration of orders or decisions shall be heard by the
Commission in banc, and the affirmative vote of at least two Commissioners shall
be necessary for the promulgation of a decision or a non-interlocutory order:
And provided, further, That in cases (1) and (2) the Commission may
delegate the reception of the evidence to one of the Commissioners, who shall
report to the Commission in banc, the evidence so received by him to enable it
to render its decision.
“SEC. 4. The Public Service Commissioner shall receive an annual compensation
of eleven thousand pesos; each of the Associate Commissioners an annual
compensation of ten thousand pesos.
“SEC. 6. The Secretary of Justice, upon recommendation of the Public Service
Commissioner, shall appoint a secretary of the Commission and such other officer
and employees as may be provided in the Appropriation Act. The Public Service
Commissioner shall have general executive control, direction, and supervision
over the work of the Commission and of its members, body and personnel, and over
all administrative business.”
“SEC. 10. The Commission shall have its office in the City of Manila at such place as may be designated, and may hold hearings on any proceedings at such times and places, within the Philippines, as it may provide by order in writing: Provided, That during the months of April and May of each year, one of the Commissioners shall be on duty and the other two Commissioners shall be on vacation in such manner that once every three years one of them shall be on duty during April and May: Provided, however, That in the interest of public service, the Secretary of Justice may require one or both of the other two Commissioners not on duty to render services and perform their duties during the vacation months.
“SEC. 38. The chief of the legal division or any other attorney of the
Commission shall represent the same in all judicial proceedings. It shall be
the duty of the Solicitor General to
represent the Commission in any judicial proceeding if, for special reasons, the
Commissioners shall request his intervention.
“There is hereby created under the administrative supervision of the
Secretary of Justice an office to be known
as the Office of the People’s Counsel in the Public Service Commission. The
People’s Counsel shall have two assistants and such number of employees as may
be necessary to perform the functions hereinafter specified. The People’s
Counsel and his assistants shall be appointed by the President of the
Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments of the Congress
of the Philippines. The employees of the Office of the People’s Counsel shall
be appointed by the Secretary of Justice
upon recommendation of the People’s Counsel.
“The People’s Counsel and his assistants shall possess the qualifications of a
provincial fiscal. The People’s Counsel shall receive compensation at the rate
of seven thousand two hundred pesos per annum, and the First and Second
Assistant People’s Counsels, at the rate of six thousand pesos per annum each.
“The People’s Counsel, his assistants, and the employees of the Office of the
People’s Counsel shall not, during their continuance in office, intervene
directly or indirectly in the management or control of, or be financially
interested directly or indirectly in, any public service as defined in this Act.
“It shall be the duty of the People’s Counsel (1) to institute proceedings
before the Commission, in behalf of the public, for the purpose of fixing just
and reasonable rates or charges to be followed and observed by public services
as herein defined, whenever he has reason to believe that the existing rates or
charges of such public services are unjust and unreasonable or unjustly
discriminatory; (2) to represent and appear for the public before the Commission
or any court of the Philippines in every case involving the interests of users
of the products of, or service furnished by, any public service under the
jurisdiction of the Commission; (3) to represent and appear for petitioners
appearing before the Commission for the purpose of complaining in matters of
rates and services; (4) to investigate the service given by, the rates charged
by, and the valuation of the properties of, the public services under the
jurisdiction of the Commission, and such other matters relating to said public
services as affect the interests of users of the products or service thereof,
and to take all the steps necessary for the protection of the interests of the
person or persons or of the public affected thereby. In connection with such
investigation he is hereby empowered to issue subpoena or subpoena
duces tecum.
“The People’s Counsel is authorized to call upon and obtain such assistance as
he may deem necessary in the performance of his duties from any officer or
employee of any Department, Bureau, office, agency, or instrumentality of the
Government, including corporations owned, controlled or operated by the
Government.
SEC. 2. The term “Deputy Commissioner” appearing in sections five, twenty-nine
and thirty-(c) of Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred and
forty-six is hereby amended to read “Associate Commissioners.”
SEC. 3. The sum of eighty thousand pesos, or so much thereof as may be
necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any funds in the
National Treasury not otherwise
appropriated for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
All balances of the sum herein appropriated remaining unexpended on June thirty,
nineteen hundred and forty-eight, shall revert to the
National Treasury and shall not be
available for expenditure except pursuant to an appropriation by the Congress of
the Philippines.
SEC. 4. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act,
are hereby repealed.
SEC. 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved, June 21, 1947
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