Presidential Decree No. 575 (PD 575) — Creating and Establishing the Philippine National Petroleum Center as an Integral Unit of the Petroleum Board, Defining Its Organization, Powers, Functions and Responsibilities and for Other Purposes.
WHEREAS, under Presidential Decree No. 87, otherwise known
as the "Oil Exploration and Development Act of 1972" issued on December
31, 1972, it is the declared policy of the State to hasten the discovery
and development of the country's indigenous petroleum resources;
WHEREAS, the attainment of this desired objective is
unnecessarily hampered by an acute shortage of Filipino technical
personnel in the sciences related to petroleum exploration and
development, the absence of an integrated data and information on the
country's petroleum potentials and resources, and the lack of local
petroleum laboratories to perform geological and geographical data
processing and analysis;
WHEREAS, it has become imperative to establish a
governmental unit in the Petroleum Board which will have ample powers to
attain the above objectives;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the
Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution,
do hereby decree, order and make part of the law of the land the
following measure:
SECTION 1. There is hereby established a Philippine National
Petroleum Center, hereinafter referred to as the Center, constituting
an integral unit of the Petroleum Board.
SEC. 2. The Center shall have the following purposes: (a) to
ensure the country of a steady stream of competent technical personnel;
(b) to centralize all data and information on the country's petroleum
resources; (c) to provide supportive technical services to all oil
exploration ventures through complete and modern laboratory facilities.
SEC. 3. The Center may set up various divisions within its
organizational structure, as it may deem necessary, such as a Petroleum
Institute, a Petroleum Laboratory and a Petroleum Data Bank.
SEC. 4. The Center shall be under the administrative
control and supervision of the Petroleum Board, with such officers and
personnel or employees as the Petroleum Board may appoint. Their
compensation, tenure of office and other terms and conditions relative
to their appointment shall be determined by the Petroleum Board.
SEC. 5. The positions in the Center of officers and
employees shall be considered technical and highly confidential and as
such may be on a part-time basis and shall be exempt from the
requirements and restrictions of the Civil Service Law, the Retirement
Law Section 259 of the Revised Administrative Code and the laws, rules
and regulations on position classification and salary standardization:
Provided that any retiree employed in the Center shall not be required
to reimburse or refund any gratuity received from the Government nor
shall any pension or annuity to which he is entitled be suspended or
reduced on account of his employment in the Center.
SEC. 6. In order to provide for the support of the Center,
the fees collected by the Petroleum Board on service contracts or other
agreements entered into pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 87,
including the signature bonuses paid thereunder shall henceforth be
receipted for separately as part of a special fund to be known as the
"Philippine National Petroleum Center Fund" and shall be set aside for
the exclusive use of the Center in accordance with this decree.
SEC. 7. The Center shall be the sole central repository of
all data and information on the country's petroleum potentials and
resources. For this purpose, it shall have the power to require reports
and data from service contractors under Presidential Decree No. 87,
concessionaires under Republic Act No. 387, also known as the Petroleum
Act of 1949, and such other oil exploration and development companies
that may explore, exploit or develop petroleum resources in the
Philippines. All such data now in the possession or custody of any
instrumentality or agency of the Government shall be turned over to the
Center within thirty (30) days after the effectivity of this decree.
SEC. 8. Other Government offices and other Government-owned
or controlled corporations shall extend whatever assistance may be
needed by the Center, including the detail of their officials and
employees under arrangements satisfactory to the Center and the other
Government office or corporation concerned. Such personnel may be given
honorarium by the Center, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.
SEC. 9. All acts, or parts of acts, decrees, general orders,
executive orders, proclamations, rules and regulations inconsistent
herewith are repealed or modified accordingly.
SEC. 10. This decree shall take effect immediately.
Done in the City of Manila, this 8th day of November, in the year
of our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-four.
(Sgd.)
FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President of the Philippines
By the President:
(Sgd.)
ALEJANDRO MELCHOR
Executive Secretary
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
