Question & AnswerQ&A (Commonwealth Act No. 223)
The main purpose of Commonwealth Act No. 223 is to provide for the award of air mail contracts and to appropriate the necessary funds for this purpose.
The Secretary of Public Works and Communications, with the approval of the President of the Philippines, is authorized to enter into such contracts.
Contracts for the transportation of mails by air may be awarded for periods not exceeding five years.
The base rate of pay for transporting mail by air shall in no case exceed seventy-five centavos per airplane mile for transporting a mail load not exceeding three hundred pounds.
Payment is at the base rate fixed in the contract for the first three hundred pounds or fraction thereof, plus one-tenth of such base rate for each additional one hundred pounds or fraction thereof, computed monthly based on the average mail load carried by mile over the route.
The passenger capacity of the planes carrying the mails should be taken into consideration.
The Secretary can grant the right to use any and all navigation facilities, including landing fields operated or controlled by the Government of the Philippines or its subdivisions.
The Secretary of Public Works and Communications, with the approval of the President, is responsible for making and issuing such rules and regulations.
One hundred and fifty thousand pesos was appropriated for the year 1937.
The unexpended balance at the end of the year shall revert to the unappropriated general funds in the Philippine Treasury.
The Secretary, with the approval of the President, may use the revenue derived from additional postage collected on airmails for payments to airmail contractors.
This Act took effect on January 1, 1937.