QuestionsQuestions (LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 280)
The main purpose of Presidential Decree No. 240 is to authorize the Postmaster General to supervise, regulate, and control the operations of private express and/or messenger delivery service firms and to issue, grant, extend, suspend, or cancel their franchises or permits to ensure public interest and national security.
No express and/or messenger delivery service firm shall operate in the Philippines without possessing the 'Authority to Operate Express and/or Messenger Delivery Service' issued by the Postmaster General.
All express and/or messenger delivery service firms operating under any franchise or authority granted prior to PD No. 240 must secure the 'Authority to Operate' from the Postmaster General within 30 days from the date of approval of the decree, or their franchise/authority will be considered cancelled and of no effect.
It includes every person, partnership, corporation, or entity that operates, manages, or controls in the Philippines, for hire or compensation, any service for the personal delivery of oral or written messages and any mailable matter, except telegrams, with a general or limited clientele, whether permanent, occasional, or accidental, for general business purposes.
No, a person or his employee delivering any article owned by him is not conducting an express and/or messenger delivery service within the context of the decree.
The Postmaster General has jurisdiction, supervision, and control over express/messenger delivery firms, may issue or cancel authority to operate, promulgate rules and regulations, fix rates and charges, exclude and confiscate harmful articles, and require firms to maintain records of their transactions and operations.
The Postmaster General may extend, suspend, or cancel the firm's Authority to Operate at any time if public interest requires or the firm has violated any order, rule, or regulation.
Articles considered harmful to public welfare, national security, public morals, and decency may be excluded and confiscated by the Postmaster General.
All mailable articles accepted for delivery by express and/or messenger delivery service firms are considered mail matter, and criminal liability under existing laws will accrue to any person who violates the fidelity in the handling and treatment of such articles.