Section 1
SECTION 1. Section four of Republic Act Numbered Four thousand ninety-three, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 4. A private development bank shall be organized in the form of a stock corporation and its paid-up capital shall not be less than four million pesos for Class A, two million pesos for Class B, and one million pesos for Class C: Provided, That at least seventy per cent of the voting stock subscribed by the private sector shall be owned and held by citizens of the Philippines, except where a new bank is established as a result of the consolidation of existing private development banks in any of which there are foreign-owned voting stocks at the time of consolidation: Provided, however, That the Monetary Board may, with the approval of the President of the Philippines, reduce the required minimum percentage of Philippine ownership prescribed herein from seventy percent (70%) to sixty percent (60%); Provided, further, That if said subscription of private shareholders to the initial capitalization of a private development bank cannot be secured or is not available, the Development Bank of the Philippines on representation of the said private shareholders and with the approval of its Board of Governors shall, within thirty days from date of approval by the Board of Governors, and after compliance by the private stockholders with the conditions of said approval, subscribe to the capital stock of such development banks, which shall be paid in full at the time of subscription out of the trust fund provided in section three, paragraph three of Republic Act Numbered Two thousand eighty-one, in an amount equal to the difference between the required paid-up capital and to the fully-paid subscribed capital of the private stockholders but not exceeding the latter: Provided, furthermore, That the Board of Governors shall act on the representation made by the private shareholders within thirty days from the date it is filed: Provided, still further, That such shares of stock subscribed by the bank shall be preferred shares entitled to cumulative dividends at the yearly rate of one per cent during the first five years, two per cent during the following five years, and three per cent thereafter, shall be preferred as against common and other preferred stockholders in the distribution of assets in the event of liquidation, and shall be entitled to voting privileges: Provided, finally, That such preferred shares of the bank may be sold at any time at par to private individuals who are citizens of the Philippines, and in the sale thereof, the qualified registered stockholders shall have the right of preemption within one year from the date of offer in proportion to their respective holdings, but in the absence of such buyers, preference shall be given to residents of the province or city where the development bank is located. All members of the board of directors of the private development bank shall be citizens of the Philippines: Provided, however, That no full-time appointive or elective public official shall at the same time serve as officer, director, legal counsel, or consultant of any private development bank, except in cases where such service is incident to financial assistance provided by the government or a government-owned or controlled corporation to the bank: Provided, further, That, in the case of merger or consolidation of private development banks duly approved by the Monetary Board, the limitation on the maximum number of corporate directors in a corporation, as provided for in Section twenty-eight of the Corporation Law (Act No. 1459), shall not be applied so that membership in the new board may include up to the total number of directors provided for in the respective articles of incorporation of the merging or consolidating private development banks."