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.

• Number: Presidential Decree No. 575
• Sections: 11

Preamble

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

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.

Section 2

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.

Section 3

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.

Section 4

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.

Section 5

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.

Section 6

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.

Section 7

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.

Section 8

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.

Section 9

SEC. 9. All acts, or parts of acts, decrees, general orders,

executive orders, proclamations, rules and regulations inconsistent

herewith are repealed or modified accordingly.

Section 10

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