AN ACT REORGANIZING THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC WORKS AND CREATING DISTRICT AND CITY ENGINEERING OFFICES OF THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC WORKS, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

• Number: Republic Act No. 4436
• Sections: 10

Section 1

SECTION 1. Reorganization of the Bureau of Public Works and Creation of Public Works Engineering District and Public Works City Engineering Offices.—In order to carry out more effectively the programs and policies of the Bureau of Public Works in the Central Office and in the field, and to achieve utmost efficiency and economy in the performance of the duties and powers vested by law to the Bureau of Public Works in relation to public works throughout the country, the Director of Public Works shall, within ninety days from the approval hereof, with the approval of the Department Head, reorganize the Bureau of Public Works and create such numbers of regional, district and city offices as shall be deemed advisable; including a public works engineering district to administer national projects in Manila, Quezon City, Pasay City, Caloocan City and Makati which shall be called Metropolitan Manila Engineering District. These public works engineering districts shall, as far as practicable, be co-extensive with the territorial limits of the respective Provinces.

Each public works engineering district shall be headed by a Public Works District Engineer who shall, upon the recommendation of the Director of Public Works, be appointed by the Department Head and receive compensation in accordance with the existing WAPCO pay plan and schedule.

Positions for three regional supervisors, with headquarters in the Central Office of the Bureau of Public Works in Manila, shall be created. These regional supervisors shall supervise field activities of the Bureau off Public Works in the public works engineering districts and city engineering offices, one each for Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. These regional supervisors shall, upon the recommendation of the Director of Public Works, be appointed by the Department Head and shall receive compensation in accordance with the existing WAPCO pay plan and schedule.

With the approval of the Department Head, a public works district engineer or any subordinate engineer or official in the field engineering offices may be transferred not oftener than once every two years to another by the Director, or may be assigned other duties or additional duties, as the exigencies of service may require.

Section 2 Qualification for the Position of Public Works District Engineer.

SEC. 2. Qualification for the Position of Public Works District Engineer.—No person shall be appointed as Public Works District Engineer unless he is a competent registered civil engineer, graduate of an engineering school or college duly recognized by the Government, with at least ten years experience in the Bureau of Public Works, and possessing the required and appropriate civil service eligibility.

Section 3

SEC. 3. Duties, Functions and Responsibilities of Heads of Public Works Engineering Districts and the Regional Supervisors.—The duties, functions and responsibilities of heads of public works engineering districts, as well as the three regional supervisors, shall be prescribed in detail in an administrative order or regulation, not inconsistent with this Act, to be issued by the Director of Public Works with the approval of the Department Head.

Section 4 Duties and Responsibilities of Heads of Public Works City Engineering Offices.

SEC. 4. Duties and Responsibilities of Heads of Public Works City Engineering Offices.—Except as specifically mentioned in Section one of this Act, the existing city shall be responsible for public works within the city and shall be responsible to the Director of Public Works insofar as the administration of public works under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Public Works is concerned. The duties, functions and responsibilities of city engineers shall be in accordance with the provisions of the city charters, if any, or shall be prescribed in detail in an administrative order or regulation, not inconsistent with this Act or the pertinent provisions of the city charter, to be issued by the Director of Public Works with the approval of the Department Head.

Section 5 Authority of Public Works District Engineers to Administer Oaths and Take Testimony.

SEC. 5. Authority of Public Works District Engineers to Administer Oaths and Take Testimony.—The heads of public works engineering districts shall have authority to administer oaths in the transaction of official business.

Section 6 Transfer of Personnel, Appropriations, Equipment and Others.

SEC. 6. Transfer of Personnel, Appropriations, Equipment and Others.—As organized, pursuant to the provisions of this Act, all personnel, unexpended appropriations, records, supplies, materials, equipment and other properties of the Bureau of Public Works in all highway district engineering offices, city engineering offices and project offices affected are transferred to the public works district and city engineering offices created under this Act. The Public Works Division in Highway Division Engineering Offices shall be abolished and personnel, unexpended appropriations, records, supplies, materials, equipment and other properties of the Bureau of Public Works in said Highway Division Engineering Offices are hereby re-allocated to the different public works district engineering offices or to the Central Office as the Director of Public Works may direct. The powers, duties and functions heretofore exercised and performed by the ex-officio public works division engineer, ex-officio public Works district engineer and ex-officio public works city engineer office personnel shall hereafter be exercised and Performed by the officials and personnel authorized under this Act insofar as they are not inconsistent with the Provisions hereof and the regulations that may be issued hereafter.

Section 7 Regulations.

SEC. 7. Regulations.—The Director of Public Works, with the approval of the Department Head, shall issue such rules and regulations, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.

Section 8 Appropriations.

SEC. 8. Appropriations.—In order to carry out the purposes of this Act, the sum of one million two hundred thousand pesos, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of the General Funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated. Positions of all public works employees and personnel, including those of the district engineers and necessary subordinate employees in public works engineering district offices, as well as, the positions of the three regional supervisors herein created, and the operating expenditures of the Bureau of Public Works shall be carried in succeeding General Appropriations Acts.

Section 9 Laws Repealed or Amended.

SEC. 9. Laws Repealed or Amended.—All Acts, executive orders, administrative orders, proclamations, rules and regulations, or parts thereof, inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

Section 10 Date of effectivity.

SEC. 10. Date of effectivity.—This Act shall take effect on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and sixty-four.

Approved, June 19, 1965.