Amendment on relief for lost gov't securities

Presidential Decree No. 649 is issued to amend Republic Act No. 1533 to extend relief for lost or damaged government securities.
Republic Act No. 1533 is the governing framework on relief for lost, stolen, destroyed, or defaced interest-bearing securities.

Presidential Decree No. 649 provides relief to support and maintain public patronage of the market for bearer government securities.
The decree is grounded on justice, fairness, and equity by affording relief where securities are lost, stolen, destroyed, or defaced without the owner’s bad faith or gross negligence.

Relief is available only for interest-bearing securities issued by the Government of the Philippines, including securities of its political subdivisions, instrumentalities, or wholly owned Government corporations.
The affected security must be identified by number and description and must be shown to the Central Bank of the Philippines’ satisfaction.
Relief applies when the security is lost or stolen so that it is not held by any person as his own property, or when it is wholly or partly destroyed, or mutilated or defaced so as to impair its value to the owner.
Relief requires that the loss, theft, destruction, mutilation, or defacement occurred without bad faith or gross negligence on the part of the owner.

The Central Bank of the Philippines, as fiscal agent, is the authority that grants relief.
The Central Bank must determine and be satisfied that the conditions for relief are met.
For bearer securities under the amended rule, the Central Bank also exercises judgment based on attendant circumstances, including whether the security is destroyed or irretrievably lost and will never become the basis of a valid claim.

If the security is not payable to bearer and has not been assigned so as to become, in effect, payable to bearer:
- If the security has not matured or has not become redeemable pursuant to a call for redemption, the Central Bank issues a duplicate.
- If the security has matured or has become redeemable pursuant to a call for redemption, the Central Bank makes payment to the owner.
The duplicate issued under the rule must have the same time to run, must bear like interest as the lost/destroyed/mutilated/defaced security proved to have, and must be marked to show the original number and date.
Payment upon maturity or redemption call is made with such interest only as would have been paid had the security been presented when it became due and payable.

When a security is lost, stolen, mutilated, or defaced while it was in the custody or control of the Government of the Philippines (excluding the Postal Service when acting solely as the public carrier of the mails), or in the custody/control of a person authorized as lawful agent of the Government:
- The Central Bank grants relief by issuing a duplicate or making payment in line with the relief method in the non-bearer framework (paragraph (a)).

If the security is payable to bearer, or so assigned as to become, in effect, payable to bearer, and it is lost, stolen, destroyed, or mutilated under the custody/custody scenario covered in paragraph (b):
- Relief may be granted only if attendant circumstances, in the Central Bank’s judgment, indicate the security has been destroyed or irretrievably lost and will never become the basis of a valid claim against the issuing government entity or the Central Bank.
- A sufficient period of time must have elapsed after the security has matured or has become redeemable pursuant to a call for redemption.
The relief for bearer securities takes the form of payment of the face value plus interest only as would have been paid had the security been presented when it became due and payable.

Section 2 repeals or modifies all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of Presidential Decree No. 649.