1960 Govt Appropriations Act

Appropriations period and basic rule

Section 1 appropriates the enumerated sums, or so much thereof as may be necessary, for the operation of the Government during July 1, 1960 to June 30, 1961, except where the Act specifically provides otherwise.
Appropriations are authorized out of Philippine Treasury funds not otherwise appropriated, and the authorized use is governed by the general provisions in Sections 2 to 32.
The Act contains itemized appropriations, while the detailed itemization is not reproduced here.

Classified Civil Service protections

Section 2 requires that adoption of a budgetary system based on functions, activities and projects in terms of expected results shall not result in any manner in laying off personnel in the classified Civil Service, except for cause as provided by law.
Section 2 further prohibits adoption of that budgetary system from causing reduction of actual salaries of incumbents, demotion in rank, or change of status.

Using savings to cover deficits

Section 3 authorizes, except as otherwise provided, savings in regular appropriations for “personal services,” “maintenance and other operating expenses,” and “equipment” of bureaus and offices under an Executive Department to be used to cover a deficit in another regular appropriation item within the same Department, if approved by the President.
Section 3 deems amounts for personal services transferred when authorized positions are transferred from one program to another within the same Department, and this is treated as transferred without increasing total outlay for personal services of the Department concerned.
Section 3 caps the augmentation rule: no item may be augmented, under this authority, by more than thirty per centum of the original appropriation.

Quarterly reporting on transfers and accomplishments

Section 4 requires the Auditor General and the Commissioner of the Budget to submit separately to Congress a quarterly report on any transfer of appropriation made to cover a deficit.
The quarterly transfer report must specify the items and the funds involved and must be furnished to each member of Congress in that member’s office.
Section 4 requires heads of bureaus or offices appropriations based on the Performance Budget to submit separate quarterly reports of accomplishments to each member of Congress.

Savings for specific obligations

Section 5 authorizes the President of the Philippines to use savings in appropriations for Executive Departments to settle enumerated obligations incurred during the current fiscal year and/or previous fiscal years, notwithstanding section 7-I(27) of Commonwealth Act No. 246, as amended.
The obligations that may be settled from savings include the enumerated categories, including death/injury claims, commutations of leave for specified groups and periods, replacement of lost or unserviceable equipment (including with Presidential approval when condemned by the Auditor General), payment of salaries of suspended employees later exonerated, government contributions to the Government Service Insurance System for specified periods, and multiple other listed items such as printing of briefs in Government appeals, improvement of food rations in government hospitals and leprosaria, rural improvement, insurance premiums for government properties, and other specified fiscal adjustments.
Section 5 includes specific monetary appropriations for: P200,000 for aid to the provinces of Southern Leyte and P200,000 for aid to the province of Catanduanes, and P100,000 for additional contribution to the Central Luzon Agricultural College for curriculum expansion, and it authorizes funding for the rural health program under Republic Act No. 1082, as amended.

Suspension of expenditures and reporting

Section 6 authorizes the President, whenever public interest requires and upon notice to the head of the office concerned, to suspend or stop expenditure of any amount appropriated in an item or items for Executive Departments for any purpose, except amounts for salaries of positions with incumbents.
Funds affected by a presidential suspension under Section 6 become available for other expenditures authorized in the Act for Executive Departments as the President may determine, except for personal services.
Section 6 provides a transfer rule for authorized positions: when authorized positions are transferred from one program to another, corresponding amounts appropriated for personal services are deemed transferred without increasing total outlay for personal services of the office concerned.
Section 6 maintains the augmentation cap: no item may be augmented by more than thirty per centum of the original appropriation under this authority.
Section 6 requires the Auditor General and the Commissioner of the Budget to report separately to Congress within thirty days any suspension or transfer of funds made during the previous quarter and to furnish copies to each member of Congress in that member’s office.

Consequence for failure to report

Section 7 provides that failure of the Auditor General and the Commissioner of the Budget to make the required report within the period specified results in an automatic suspension of the payment of their salaries until they comply.

Salary “excess of actual salary”

Section 8 allows appropriations to be used for payment of excess of actual salaries to the incumbent receiving that excess as part of the salary granted upon appointment before reduction of basic pay to the amount provided.
Section 8 provides that if the position is vacated and the successor previously received an equal salary plus the “excess of actual salary” in the same or any other branch of government service, that excess is allowable to the successor.

Local purchase and procurement limits

Section 9 restricts appropriations for purchase of equipment, supplies and materials authorized in the Act to locally manufactured items, parts, accessories, supplies and materials, except when none is available in the market.
Section 9 also allows non-local purchase if prices of the locally manufactured article exceed those determined by the Flag Law by ten percent.

Vehicle rental ban and motor-vehicle purchase limits

Section 10 prohibits using appropriations for the Executive Apartments for renting automobiles, jitneys or trucks on a monthly basis, or on a daily basis for a continuous period exceeding fifteen days.
Section 11 prohibits using any appropriation in the Act for the purchase of automobiles, jitneys, jeeps, station wagons, motorcycles and other motor vehicles unless otherwise specifically provided in the Act.

Who may use government motor transportation

Section 12 grants entitlement to government motor transportation chargeable against appropriations authorized in the Act to the enumerated top officials and specified positions, including the President, Vice-President, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and other Senate and House leadership positions, selected committee chairs, judiciary officials, the Auditor General, specified ambassadors and consuls abroad, and specified Armed Forces command positions.
Section 12 includes foreign-service officials as entitled while in their respective stations abroad.

Monthly transportation allowance for officials

Section 13 grants a commutable transportation allowance of two hundred fifty pesos per month to the enumerated Department Secretaries and other officials with specified ranks, including the Executive Secretary, Auditor General, Commissioner of the Budget, Press Secretary, and other named positions.
Section 13 grants a commutable transportation allowance of two hundred pesos per month to the enumerated undersecretaries and officials with the same rank and to additional enumerated officials and chiefs, including a long list of bureau and office heads and commissioners.
Section 13 grants a transportation allowance of one hundred pesos per month to the enumerated officers, directors, chiefs of bureaus and offices, and specified Sergeant-at-Arms position.
Section 13 makes these allowances chargeable against the appropriations authorized in the Act for their respective offices.

Government motor vehicle privileges by bureau/office

Section 14 prohibits bureaus and offices from using, operating, or maintaining government service cars and similar motor vehicles and launches from appropriations authorized in the Act unless the bureau or office falls within the enumerated exceptions.
Section 14 lists exceptions allowing specific government entities to use government vehicles and launches for specified purposes, including the House of Representatives, the Senate, Malacañang, and many specialized agencies and bureaus.
Section 14 includes exceptions for specific operational purposes such as enforcing revenue laws, transporting cash, conducting examinations and inspections, prison operations, quarantine work, and functions tied to agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and public works.
Section 14 grants authority to the Armed Forces of the Philippines when on military operations or on active duty in restoration and maintenance of peace and order.
Section 14 includes the Joint Legislative-Executive Tax Commission exception tied to its functions under Republic Act No. 2211.

Trip ticketing and after-hours custody

Section 16 requires that vehicle use for the purposes enumerated under Section 14 be authorized only through issuance of a serially numbered ticket for each trip.
Section 16 requires that each trip ticket be duly signed by the chief or administrative officer of the bureau or office concerned.
Section 16 requires strict official use, government plates only, and custody after office hours in the garage provided by the owning bureau or office, except for strictly official business outside office hours.

One vehicle per official, limited exceptions

Section 17 prohibits every government official or employee (except the President) authorized to use a vehicle from using more than one motor vehicle operated and maintained from the Act’s funds.
Section 17 allows the Vice-President, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to use two motor vehicles each.
Section 17 prohibits any official furnished motor transportation allowance by any government corporation or any other official from using motor vehicle transportation operated and maintained from funds appropriated in the Act.
Section 17 empowers the Auditor General to issue rules and regulations to properly implement and enforce Section 17 and related vehicle provisions in Sections 13, 14 and 16.

Disposition of unused national motor vehicles

Section 18 directs that all motor vehicles owned by or assigned to departments, bureaus, offices and branches of the National Government not needed by officials for the purposes enumerated in Sections 12 and 14 must be disposed of through sale to the highest bidder at public auction.
Section 18 requires auction sales to be announced in a newspaper of general circulation at least ten days before the sale.
Section 18 grants the former user preference if the former user offers and pays a price equal to the highest bid by others.

Strike-related salary and wage prohibition

Section 19 prohibits using any part of funds available for expenditures by an agency included in the Act to pay salary or wages of any officer or employee who engages in a strike against the Government of the Republic of the Philippines.
Section 19 extends the prohibition to employees who are members of an organization asserting the right to strike against the Government and to those who advocate or are members of an organization advocating overthrow of the Government by force or violence.
Section 19 provides that—subject to existing civil service rules and proper administrative proceedings—an affidavit by the person making it shall be considered sufficient evidence that the person has not engaged in a prohibited strike and has not been a member of any prohibited organization.

Per diems outside the Philippines cap

Section 20 prohibits paying per diems in excess of fifty pesos to any official or employee traveling outside of the Philippines.

No transfer of savings to GSIS

Section 21 prohibits transferring savings from personal services under the general fund and the special, revolving, trust, depository and other funds to the Government Service Insurance System, notwithstanding Republic Act No. 660, as amended.

Reinsurance of government buildings

Section 22 requires that where appropriations provide for premiums covering the insurance of government buildings with the Property Insurance Fund, reinsurance shall be equitably distributed among private insurance companies doing business in the Philippines at least sixty per cent of capital stock owned by citizens of the Philippines.
Section 22 requires uniform terms, conditions and rates of premiums for the equitably distributed reinsurance.

Budget terminology harmonization

Section 23 authorizes the Commissioner of the Budget to harmonize appropriation structure with new terminology of classification of accounts prescribed by law or regulations.
Section 23 prohibits such harmonization from increasing or decreasing the aggregate sum appropriated for various objects affected under each department, bureau, or office.
Section 23 requires the Commissioner of the Budget to submit a report of such action to Congress before the beginning of each session.

Congressional oversight on public expenditures

Section 24 authorizes the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Committee on Appropriations to look into matters relating to public expenditures at any time.
Section 24 covers funds for national government expenditures and payment of public indebtedness, auditing of accounts and expenditures (including government-owned or controlled corporations), claims against the Government, and in general matters relating to public expenditures.
Section 24 clarifies that the authority granted is without prejudice to any member of Congress requesting committee action to look into those matters either as a committee member or as a member of Congress.

Special funds and disbursement limits

Section 25 provides that, except as otherwise provided in the Act, no portion of any unallotted balance of special, revolving and trust funds and receipts automatically appropriated is available for expenditure.
Section 25 prohibits incurring expenditure or making disbursement out of appropriations under such funds and receipts automatically appropriated in an amount exceeding, at any one time, either the fund itself or the cash in the National Treasury pertaining to the fund.
Section 25 allows advancement from the general fund when, in the President’s opinion, exigency of the service requires it and sufficient income or receipts are expected to accrue to cover the expenditure or disbursement.

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Fund charges

Section 26 provides that appropriations for activities heretofore financed from receipts of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Fund continue to be charged against that Fund.
Section 26 requires the Board of Directors of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes to allot the amount in the distribution of the Fund.

Immediate payment and personal liability for credit sales

Section 27 requires that to ensure immediate collection, the Government must not render services or make sales except on a cash basis in transactions with private parties.
Section 27 imposes personal liability on any official or employee who allows services to be rendered or sales to be made on account; the act is considered sufficient ground for removal from office.
Section 27 limits these cash-basis and personal-liability rules to Government transactions with private parties.
Section 27 excludes government-owned or controlled corporations and Government officials and employees holding regular positions from the concept of “private parties.”

Monthly remittance of life and retirement premiums to GSIS

Section 28 requires premiums for life and retirement insurance of employees of the National Government and its instrumentalities to be remitted monthly to the Government Service Insurance System as they become due and collected.
Section 28 maintains that this monthly remittance obligation applies notwithstanding Republic Act No. 660, as amended.

Maximum permanent positions in a bureau or office

Section 29 limits the maximum number of permanent positions in a bureau or office to the number of permanent positions included in the schedules for that bureau or office in the budget document, unless otherwise provided by law.

Reorganized agencies and salary adjustments

Section 30 provides that appropriations for agencies to be reorganized under approved reorganization plans are deemed appropriated for the reorganized agencies once the Reorganization Implementation Reports are approved and promulgated by the President.
Section 30 authorizes the Commissioner of the Budget to make necessary appropriation adjustments to carry out the provisions.
Section 30 authorizes the department head concerned, with the Commissioner of the Budget’s approval, to make necessary salary adjustments so that no incumbent receives a reduction in salary, to make adjustments from final selection of personnel, and to make adjustments for interim appointments, promotions or salary increases, and adjustments to correct staffing-pattern errors, discriminations or injustices.
Section 30 requires that any authorized staffing-pattern adjustments not yet reflected in the Act be given due course by adjusting the corresponding appropriations.

No modification of approved reorganization plans

Section 30 provides that no provision of the Act shall be construed as repealing or modifying, in any way, approved reorganization plans under Republic Act No. 997, as amended.

WAPCO designation changes and tenure

Section 31 provides that any change of designation of a position authorized in the Act due to classification under the WAPCO Plan does not affect the tenure of office of the incumbent.
Section 31 provides that such designation changes do not constitute a demotion in rank or salary and do not result in change of status or assignment; the incumbent is deemed appointed in that position and class.
Section 31 provides that any change in designation effected in the Act does not affect the status or tenure of the incumbent notwithstanding existing laws to the contrary.

Release priorities for appropriations marked “B”

Section 32 provides that release of funds to implement items of appropriations marked “B” shall not be made unless the Commissioner of the Budget finds that the actual income of the General Fund at that time exceeds the amount required to fund indispensable services covered under items not so marked.
Section 32 provides that any balance of such releases may be withdrawn at any time to avoid a deficit in the General Fund.
Section 32 requires releases to be made substantially according to priority order among general classifications of expenditures: Social development, Economic development, General government, and National defense.

Prohibited salary transfer and other fiscal controls

Section 21 prohibits transfer of personal-services savings to the Government Service Insurance System under Republic Act No. 660, as amended.
Section 20 caps per diems outside the Philippines at fifty pesos.
Section 3, Section 6, and related provisions impose a maximum thirty per centum augmentation limit when authority is used to adjust appropriations.

Effectivity

Section 33 sets the effectivity date as July first, nineteen hundred and sixty, except where otherwise provided.