Section 20
SEC. 20. Application,—Applications shall be recorded in a registration book and shall be processed in the order in which they are filed; and for this purpose the date appearing on the registration book and stamped on the application shall be considered the date of filing. The Board shall cease to register any enterprise in a preferred or pioneer area of investment when the measured capacity therein has been filled; but all enterprises registered within the measured capacity shall enjoy the status of preferred or pioneer enterprises, as the case may be. Where several qualified enterprises apply for registration with the Board but the total of their proposed combined production capacities exceeds the available measured capacity of the preferred or pioneer area of investment in which they are proposing to engage, the Board shall approve and register only those that can be accommodated within the available measured capacity and are better suited to achieve the objectives of this Act. The Board shall base its choice on the following criteria: (a) The extent of ownership and control by Philippine Nationals of the enterprises; (b) The manner in which the enterprises are integrated, and the length of their experience in the preferred area of investment or in areas closely related to it; (c)The cost factors and the economies of scale involved in their processes; (d)The amount of foreign exchange earned, used, or save in their operations; (e)The extent to which they employ labor, materials and other resources obtained from indigenous sources; (f)The amount of their equity, and the degree to which the ownership of such equity is spread out and diversified; (g) The extent to-which they shall insure the maintenance of competition within the industry; and (h)The extent of public participation in the enterprise. In making a choice between two or more enterprises applying for registration and proposing to produce identical or substantially identical products or commodities, both possessing the required degree of Filipino ownership and control, the Board shall give preference to projects that constitute an expansion of, or addition to or integration of existing facilities whenever these enjoy the advantages of lower costs and economies of scale over projects undertaken in isolation from technically related facilities; and other things being equal, the Board shall give preference to enterprises where the degree of ownership and control by Philippine Nationals is greater. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to exclude any non-registered enterprises from freely engaging, within existing constitutional and statutory limitations, and without enjoying the incentives benefits provided in this Act, in any line of economic activity or endeavor that has been declared a preferred area of investment: Provided, That a non-Philippine National may engage, without incentives, in preferred areas of investment where Philippine Nationals are already engaged only after three (3) years from the date of declaration of the area as preferred if the measured capacity has not been filled within the said period, except where such non-Philippine National shall engage, without incentives, in the manufacture of finished products primarily for export. The Board shall fix the percentage of production that must be exported by a non-Philippine National in order to be deemed to be engaged in manufacture primarily for export, which percentage shall not be less than seventy per cent (70%) of its total production. Any order or decision of the Board under this Section may be appealed within thirty (30) days from receipt of said order or decision to the National Economic Council. Upon failure on the part of the National Economic Council to act within the said period of ninety (90) days, the decision of the Board shall be deemed upheld. The Board or the enterprise applying for registration under this Act may appeal the decision of the National Economic Council to the President within thirty (30) days from its promulgation.