Section 4
SEC. 4. Section 4 thereof is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 4. The Board of Trustees; Composition, Qualifications; Tenure; Powers and Duties. — The Corporate powers and functions of the System shall be vested in and exercised by a Board of Trustees composed of five members consisting of a Chairman and three Trustees all of whom shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines and the General Manager of the System who shall be the ex officio Vice-Chairman of the Board. "The Chairman and the three members of the Board shall serve for terms of three years, except that any person appointed to fill a vacancy shall serve only for the unexpired term of the member whom he succeeds. "Every member of the Board shall possess any one or a combination of the following qualifications; A duly licensed professional of recognized competence in engineering, in business management and finance, or in law with at least ten years of actual and distinguished experience in their respective fields of expertise, and of good moral character. "The Board, moreover, shall have the following specific powers and duties: "(a) To formulate and adopt policies and measures for the management and operation of the System; "(b) To adopt an annual and supplemental budget of receipts and expenditures of the System according to its requirements; "(c) Subject to the provisions of existing laws and regulations, and upon the recommendations of the General Manager, or motu proprio, to organize, reorganize in a manner other than what is provided for under this Act and Section 3 of Republic Act No. 4177, and determine the System's staffing pattern and the number of personnel, to fix their salaries including other emoluments, and to define their power and duties, WAPCO rules and regulations shall not apply to the System; however, for the above purpose, the Board shall take into consideration similar staffing patterns and salary ranges obtaining in other government corporations of the same category as the System; "(d) To recommend to the President of the Philippines the appointment of the General Manager of the System and to fix his compensation which shall be not less than sixty thousand pesos per annum; "(e) Subject to the approval of the President of the Philippines, to appoint and fix the compensation of each Assistant General Manager which shall be not less than forty-eight thousand pesos per annum; "(f) By a majority vote of all its members, to suspend or remove for cause, with the approval of the President of the Philippines, any Assistant General Manager subject to the provisions of Article VII of the Civil Service Act, as amended; "(g) To adopt and establish guidelines for the employment of personnel on the basis of merit, technical competence and moral character; "(h) To issue such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the sanitary protection of watersheds, reservoirs, conduits, springs and other water sources; for the proper operation of water supply lines and sanitary sewers; for the preservation and protection of water and sewer service as soon as established; and for proper procedures in applying for approval of, and connection to, water and/or sewer services which rules shall take effect after publication at least once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the territory served by the System."