The Public Service Law

&
The Salvage law

Learning Objectives

To be able to know the Public Service Law; the

Commission, purpose and provisions
To Identify what are the requirements to engaged
in Public Service and exemptions in obtaining
certificates
To identify the difference between Certificate of
Public Convenience and Certificate of Public
Convenience and necessity;

The Public Service Law

Commonwealth act no. 146
(11-07-1936)

Section 2

Under the Department of justice there is a

commission which shall be designated and known
as the Public Service Commission.

The Commission is composed of one Public

Service Commissioner and five Associate
Commissioners, and which shall be vested with
the powers and duties hereafter specified.

Section 2

1.

The Public Service Commissioner and the

Associate Public Service Commissioners shall be:

Natural born citizens and residents of the

Philippines

2.

Not under thirty years of age;

3.

Members of the Bar of the Philippines, with at

least five years of law practice or five years of
employment in the government service

Section 13
(a) The Commission shall have jurisdiction,
supervision, and control over all public services
and their franchises, equipment, and other
properties, and in the exercise of its authority, it
shall have the necessary powers and the aid of the
public force: Provided, That public services owned
or operated by government entities or governmentowned or controlled corporations shall be regulated
by the Commission in the same way as privatelyowned public services, but certificates of public
convenience or certificates of public convenience
and necessity shall not be required of such entities
or corporations: And provided, further, That it shall
have no authority to require steamboats, motor

Public Utility

Public Utility

is a business or service engaged in supplying

the public with some commodity or service of
public consequence. (e.g, Natural gas companies,
Electricity Companies)

Section 13
(b) The term "public service" includes:
*every person;
*any common carrier;
*freight or carrier service;
*canal, irrigation system, gas, electric light, heat
and power water supply and power, petroleum,
sewerage system, wire or wireless communications
system, wire or wireless broadcasting stations
and other similar public services

Provided, however, That a person engaged in

agriculture, not otherwise a public service, who

Section 14
The following are exempted from the provisions of
the preceding section:
(a) Warehouses;
(b) Vehicles drawn by animals and bancas moved
by oar or sail, and tugboats and lighters;
(c) Airships within the Philippines except as regards
the fixing of their maximum rates on freight and
passengers;

Section 14
(d) Radio companies except with respect to the
fixing of rates;
(e) Public services owned or operated by any
instrumentality of the National Government or by
any government-owned or controlled corporation,
except with respect to the fixing of rates. (As
amended by Com. Act 454, RA No. 2031, and RA
No. 2677 )

Requirements to engaged in public

services

Certificate of Public Convenience

it issued whenever the Commission finds that

the operation of the proposed public service will
promote the public interest in a proper and suitable
manner, for which a municipal or legislative
franchise is not necessary

Requirements to engaged in public

services

Certificate of Public Convenience and necessity

Is issued upon approval of any franchise or

privilege granted by any political subdivision of the
Philippines when in judgement of the Commission,
such franchise or privilege will properly conserve
the public interest.

Section 15

With the exception of those enumerated in the

preceding section, no public service shall
operate in the Philippines without
possessing a valid and subsisting certificate
from the Public Service Commission known
as "certificate of public convenience," or
"certificate of public convenience and necessity,"
as the case may be, to the effect that the
operation of said service and the authorization to
do business will promote the public interests in a
proper and suitable manner.

requisites for the grant of a

certificate of public convenience
1.

2.

3.

Applicant must be a citizen of the Philippines. If

the applicant is a Corporation, 60% of its capital
must be owned by Filipinos
Applicant must prove public necessity
Applicant must prove the operation of proposed
public service will promote public interest in a
proper and suitable manner; and

Exemption from obtaining the

certificate

Public service owned or operated by government

entities or government-owned or controlled
corporations regulated by the Commission in the
same way as privately owned public services by
certificates of public convenience and necessity
Grantees of legislative franchise
Those expressly exempted from the jurisdiction of
the Commission

Section 19

Unlawful Acts. - It shall be unlawful for any public

service:

(a) To provide or maintain any service that is

unsafe, improper, or inadequate or withhold or
refuse any service which can reasonably be
demanded and furnished, as found and determined
by the Commission in a final order which shall be
conclusive and shall take effect in accordance with
this Act, upon appeal of otherwise.

Section 19
(b) To make or give, directly or indirectly, by itself
or through its agents, attorneys or brokers, or any
of them, discounts or rebates on authorized rates,
or grant credit for the payment of freight charges,
or any undue or unreasonable preference or
advantage to any person of corporation or to any
locality or to any particular description of traffic or
service, or subject any particular person or
corporation or locality or any particular description
of traffic to any prejudice or disadvantage in any
respect whatsoever; to adopt, maintain, or enforce
any regulation, practice or measurement which
shall be found or determined by the Commission to
be unjust, unreasonable, unduly preferential or

Section 19
(c) To refuse or neglect, when requested by the
Director of Posts or his authorized representative,
to carry public mail on the regular trips of any
public land transportation service maintained or
operated by any such public service; upon such
terms and conditions and for a consideration in
such amount as may be agreed upon between the
Director of Posts and the public service carrier of
fixed by the Commission in the absence of an
agreement between the Director of Posts and the
carrier. In case the Director of Posts and public
service carrier are unable to agree on the amount
of the compensation to be paid for the carriage of
the mail, the Director of Posts shall forthwith

The salvage law

SALVAGE

a service, which one person renders to the

owner of a ship or goods by his own labor,
preserving the goods or ship the owner or those
entrusted with the care of them either abandoned
in distress at sea or is unable to protect and
secure.

DERELICT

Is a ship or her cargo which is abandoned and

deserted at sea by those who are in charge of it,
without any hope of recovering it, or without any
intention of returning to it.
If those in charge of the property left it with the
intention of finally leaving it and the change of its
intention and an attempt to return will change its
nature.

SHIPWRECK

Means a ship, which has received injuries rendering her

incapable of navigation.

Also define as the loss of a vessel at sea, either by being

swallowed up by waves, running against a thing at sea,
or on the coast.

Elements of a valid salvage claim

a.

b.

c.

A marine peril;
Service voluntarily rendered when not required
as an existing duty or from special contract;
Success, in whole or in part, or that the services
rendered contributed to success.

After the salvage is accomplished, the owner or

his representative shall have a right to the
delivery of the vessel or things saved, provided
that he pays, or gives a bond to secure, the
expenses and the proper reward.
The Collector of Customs or the judge of the
Court of First Instance (regional Trial Court)
determines the amount and sufficiency of the
bind if there is no agreement.

The salvor has lien over the vessel and things

salvaged upon the principle that the service
rendered by the salvor creates a property in the
thing saved.
He is a joint owner and if the property is lost, he
must bears his shares like the other joint owners.

Report of salvage
The Collector of Customs, Provincial Treasurer, or
Municipal Mayor, to whom salvage is reported shall
order:

a.

b.

That the things saved be safeguarded and

inventoried;
The sale at public auction of the things saved,
which may be in danger of immediate loss or of
those whose conservation is evidently
prejudicial to the interests of the owner, when
no objection is made to such sale;

Report of salvage

c. The advertisement within thirty (30) days

subsequent to the salvage, in one of the local
newspaper or in the nearest newspaper published,
of all the details of the disaster, with the statement
of the mark and number of the effects, requesting
all interested persons to make their claims

A brief guide to the law of

Salvage is the reward
given to persons who
salvage
voluntarily assist a ship or recover its cargo from
impending or actual peril or loss. To make a valid
claim of salvage, a claimant must prove:

the event involved a ship and its cargo, or things

committed to and lost at sea or other public,
navigable waterways;
the ship or its cargo have been found or rescued;

A brief guide to the law of

salvage
A salvor (one who
salvages) must have the
intent and capacity of committing a salvage, but
need not have the intention of
keeping the property. The salvor need not have
even given physical assistance to the rescue of
the ship or property:

The salvor has lien over the vessel and things

salvaged upon the principle that the service
rendered by the salvor creates a property in the
thing saved. He is a joint owner and if the property
is lost, he must bears his shares like the other joint
owners.

A brief guide to the law of salvage

Various types of "peril" are allowed. The most

common cases involve abandoned ships or ships
in danger of sinking. Typically, a salvage must
occur on the seas.

SEC. 1314. Forwarding, of Cargo and

Remains of Wrecked Vessel or Aircraft.

When vessels or aircrafts are wrecked within the

Philippines, application must be made to the
Commissioner by the c owners or consignees of
the cargo, or by the underwriters, in case of
abandonment to them, for permission to forward
the articles saved from the wreck to the ports of
destination, in other conveyance, without entry
customhouse in the district in which the article
was cast ashore or unladen. On receipt of such
permission articles may be so 31 forwarded with
particular manifests thereof, duly certified by
customs officials in cha the articles.

SEC. 1314. Forwarding, of Cargo and

Remains of Wrecked Vessel or Aircraft.

If the owner of the vessel or aircraft wishes to

export the remains of the wreck, he may be
permit' do so upon proper examination and
inspection.
The remains of a wrecked vessel shall be
considered to be not only the hull and rigging of
the same but also all sea stores and articles of
equipment, such as sails, ropes, chains, anchors
and so forth.

SEC. 1315. Derelicts and Articles

from Abandoned Wrecks.

Derelicts and all articles picked a, or recovered

from abandoned wrecks, shall be taken
possession of in the port or district where they
shall first arrive, and be retained in the custody of
the Collector, and if not claimed and entered, as
the case may be, by the owner, underwriter or
salvor, shall be dealt with as unclaimed property.
When such articles are brought into port by
lighters or other craft, each of such vessels shall
make entry by manifest of her cargo.
If, in case of wreck, there be no customhouse at
the point where the vessel or aircraft is wrecked,
coastguard or customs official nearest the scene

SEC. 1315. Derelicts and Articles

from Abandoned Wrecks.

In order to prevent any attempt to defraud the

revenue the Collector shall be presented at the
salvage of the cargo by customs officials detailed
for that purpose, who shall examine and
countersign the inventory made of such cargo
and receive a copy of the same.
Derelicts and articles salvaged from foreign
vessels or aircrafts picked up at sea, or taken
from wreck is prima facie dutiable and may be
entered for consumption or warehousing. If
claimed to be of Philippine production, and
consequently free, proof must be adduced as in

SEC. 1315. Derelicts and Articles

from Abandoned Wrecks.

Before any article which has been taken from a

recent wreck shall be admitted to entry, the same
shall be appraised, and the owner or importer
shall have the same right to appeal as in ordinary
importation.
No part of a Philippine vessel or aircraft or her
equipment, wrecked either in Philippine or foreign
waters, shall be subject to duty.