Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No, __225.

Introduced by Representative GERALDINE B. ROMAN

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill seeks to mandate all electric, cable and telecommunications
companies to conduct periodic inspections of their respective utility line
installations to ensure strict compliance with the standards and regulations
provided under the Philippine Electrical Code.

The Philippine Electrical Code has been approved and adopted by the
Board of Electrical Engineering of the Professional Regulation Commission by
virtue of its mandate under Republic Act No. 7920, also known as the “New
Electrical Engineering Law.” The Philippine Electrical Code serves as the basis
in the installation of electrical system designs in the country.

Electric, cable and telecommunications companies already existing in the
country such as MERALCO, PLDT, Bayantel, Skycable, observe and use the
provisions of the Philippine Electrical Code in the installation of their utility
lines. For instance, overhead power lines have strict guidelines for height
clearances over streets, sidewalks, alleys, roads and driveways for the safety of
the public. However, through the passage of time, in the absence of regular
inspection and monitoring, the sagging of these wires and cables may happen

which endangers the lives of people.


It is for this reason that this measure is proposed to mandate all electric,
cable and telecommunications companies to conduct periodic inspections of their
respective utility line installation and for the government agencies exercising
jurisdiction over these installations to monitor the height clearance requirements
for the safety of the public. This bill was approved on third reading and was

transmitted to the Senate during the 18" Congress.

In view of the foregoing, approval of this bill is earnestly recommended

Eth Ilo
a GERALDINE B. ROM.



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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No, 225

Introduced by Representatives Geraldine B. Roman

AN ACT
MANDATING THE PROPER INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE OF
OVERHEAD ELECTRIC SUPPLY, COMMUNICATION LINES, AND
STRUCTURE BY ALL ELECTRIC, CABLE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
COMPANIES FOR PURPOSES OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND GOOD
HOUSEKEEPING

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the
Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. This Act shall be known as the “Proper
Installation and Maintenance of Overhead Electric Supply and Communication
Lines Act”.

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. — It is hereby declared the policy of the
State to:

a) Ensure the safety and protection of life and property;
d)

c} Promote good housekeeping and implement sound maintenance of

Uphold the general welfare; and

utility poles, lines, cables, equipment and accessories in the conduct
and delivery of services by electric, cable and telecommunications

companies to their clients.


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SEC. 3. Responsibility of Electric, Cable and Telecommunications
Companies. - It shall be the responsibility of electric, cable and
telecommunications companies to safeguard life and property in the conduct
and delivery of services to their clients.

They shall ensure public safety and prepare contingencies for calamities
or any unforeseen event that may cause harm, expose a person to peril and
cause damage to property, by undertaking necessary precautionary
measures to prevent the same. Electric, cable and telecommunications
companies shall maintain good housekeeping and implement sound
maintenance programs in all their service areas. Toward this end, all
electric, cable and telecommunications companies shall perform the
following:

(a) Conduct periodic inspection of overhead electric supply and
communication lines, in compliance with the standard clearance under the
Philippine Electrical Code Part 2 (PEC 2) and as provided in this Act or the
implementing rules and regulations;

(b) Fix and bundle-up of dangling overhead secondary and
communication lines;

(c) Remove unused overhead electric and communication lines;

(d) Replace all unused, misplaced, damaged and rotten utility poles; and

(e) Strictly adhere to and ensure strict compliance with the standards and
regulations provided under the Philippine Electrical Code, as approved and
adopted by the Board of Electrical Engineering of the Professional
Regulation Commission pursuant to the mandate vested upon the Board
under Republic Act No. 7920, otherwise known as the "New Electrical
Engineering Law".

SEC. 4. Joint Use of Structure. - The joint use of structure shall be
considered for circuits along highways, roads, streets, and alleys. The choice
between joint use of structures and separate lines shall be determined
through collaborative consideration of all the factors involved, including, but
not limited to, the character of circuits, the total number and weight of
conductors, tree conditions, number and location of branches and service

drops, structure conflicts, and availability of right-of-way and other factors
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as may be provided in the implementing rules and regulations. Where such
joint use is mutually agreed upon, it shall be subject to the appropriate
grade of construction specified in Article 3.5 of PEC 2.

SEC. 5. Responsibility of the Local Government Units (LGUs). - All
cities and municipalities shall, through their respective city or municipal
engineers or the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the
case of national roads, ensure that every utility company, within their
territorial jurisdiction, comply with the provisions of Section 3 of this Act
The Sangguniang Panlungsod or Sangguniang Bayan concerned shall,
under the Local Government Code, issue an ordinance governing the
overhead installation of electric wires, cables and utility poles, in accordance
with the Electrical Code, National Building Code and RA11361 or The Anti-
Obstruction Of Power Lines Act and in consultation with the agencies
concerned.

The city or municipal engineer, or the authorized representative of
such city or municipality may, in addition to the authority to withhold the
grant or renewal of licenses or business permits, file a complaint against the
electric, cable or telecommunications company, which fails to conduct
periodic inspection of its respective utility line installations or to fix or
bundle up its utility lines or remove all old and unused lines in violation of
the regulations and standards provided under the PEC 2 before the court of
competent jurisdiction. An administrative complaint may likewise be filed by

y or municipal engineer who fails to monitor the

any person against the cit
compliance of electric, cable and telecommunications companies with the
standards and regulations provided under the PEC 2.

Once it has been notified of a possible violation, the city or
municipality, or the DPWH in the case of national roads, shall send notice to
the erring company to allow it to rectify its error within a reasonable time or
to explain its reasons for failure to comply with the standards set forth in
Republic Act No. 7920 and its implementing rules and regulations. Upon
failure to rectify its error or continuous non-compliance without justifiable
cause, the city or municipal engineer, or the DPWH in the case of national

roads, may conduct an investigation, upon due notice to the erring
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company. A finding of fault by the authorized person conducting the
investigation may result in the withholding of the renewal of the
corresponding business licenses or permits for erring electric, cable and
telecommunications companies.

The public utilities shall notify the LGU concerned on violations on the
issuance of building permits for non-compliance with the rules and the
standards on setbacks and clearances under the Philippine Electrical Code
the National Building Code, and the “‘Anti-Obstruction of Power Lines Act” or
Republic Act No. 11361, as provided in this Act.

SEC. 6. Installation of Overhead Electric Lines, Cables and
Utility Poles and Standard Requirements. - Ail installation of overhead
electric lines, cables and utility poles shall be inspected by the city or
municipal engineer, or the DPWH, whichever is applicable. Installation of
overhead electric lines, cables and utility poles shall conform to the PEC 2,
Philippine Distribution Code (PDC), Distribution Services and Open Access
Rules (DSOAR), National Building Code (NBC), and other existing applicable
local and international standards, of which compliance shall be ensured by
the Inter-Agency Committee. The specific location shall be inspected by the
engineering officials prior to, during and after the installation.

In cases where the ideal location of pole installation is unavailable, the
city or municipal government, or the DPWH, whichever is applicable, shall
assist the pole owner in identifying and securing the right-of-way (ROW) for
alternative pole locations, at no cost to the government.

Pending the promulgation of standards by the Inter-agency Committee

under Section 9 of this Act or a uniform set of requirements by the

barangay, city or municipal government unit on the overhead installation

and maintenance of electric lines, cables, utility poles, equipment and
accessories, the city or municipal government shall assist the facilities
owner on issues concerning the same.

SEC. 7. Creation of a Monitoring and Service Team. - A Monitoring
and Service Team, led by the city or municipal engineer and composed of
representatives from the pole owners and the electric, cable and

telecommunications companies, shall, in coordination with the barangay,
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city or municipal-engineer or the DPWH, whichever is applicable, be created
to perform the immediate and necessary clean-up operation and
maintenance of overhead electric lines, cables, utility poles, equipment and
accessories in compliance with the provisions of this Act. The clean-up
operation shall commence within six (6) months from the promulgation of
the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) pursuant to Section 13 of this
Act.

SEC. 8, Role of the Monitoring and Service Team. - The Monitoring
and Service Teams of electric, cable and telecommunications companies
shall conduct a semi-annual inspection to check compliance to Section 3 of
this Act and maintenance of their electric lines, cables, utility poles,
equipment and accessories installed in a particular area for the efficient
delivery of their services. Maintenance shail include, among others, proper
bundling, casing and replacement of damaged electric lines and cables, and
repair and replacement of utility poles, equipment and accessories, and
retirement of unused electric wires, cables and utility poles.

Electric, cable and telecommunications companies shall be given a
reasonable period of time to relocate and realign displaced lines, cables,
utility poles, equipment and accessories as a result of a public
infrastructure work. The implementing agency of a construction project
shall inform and coordinate with the public utility company concerned for
the relocation of its lines, cables, utility poles, equipment and accessories.
The cost of relocating such lines, cables, utility poles, equipment and
accessories shall be shouldered by the implementing agency of the
construction project. The implementing agency shall provide its plans,
specifications and provide utility corridors for the adequate evaluation of the
design, construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities. All costs that
shall be incurred in the necessary relocation of facilities of the public
utilities concerned as a result of such public infrastructure work under the
Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Project, Build-Build-Build Program, or any
other similar program of the government shall be borne by the implementing
agency or project proponent as part of its obligation to deliver the right-of-

way, or by the private concessionaire, as the case may be.
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A real-time inspection and monitoring shall be done in cases of
emergencies and calamities.

SEC. 9. Inter-Agency Committee. - An Inter-Agency Committee to be
chaired by the ERC and composed of authorized representatives from the
DPWH, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG),
Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT),
National Telecommunications Company (NTC), National Transmission
Corporation (TransCo), National Electrification Administration (NEA), and
representatives from the LGUs, is hereby created to set the prescribed
standards in the overhead installation of lines, cables, utility poles,
equipment and accessories, monitor the same and conduct periodic
inspection thereof to ensure compliance thereto and shall jointly plan for the
conduct of clean-up drives, identify issues, prioritize key areas, recommend
best practices or way forward, to ensure compliance of the latter with
existing applicable laws, rules and regulations of relevant agencies/offices of
the government, such as the PEC, the PDC, and the NBC.

The inter-agency committee may invite resource persons, if deemed
necessary, from Professional Regulatory Board of Electrical Engineering
(PRBEE), PRC-Board of Electronics and Communications Engineering (PRC-
BECE), the Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers of the Philippines
(IEE) and two (2) representatives from the private sector.

SEC. 10. Penalty Provisions. - Unless otherwise provided under
special laws, an electric, cable or telecommunications company found in
violation of any provision of this Act, in addition to the civil liabilities
prescribed by Article 2176 of the Civil Code on quasi-delict and the penalties
prescribed by Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code on criminal negligence,
shall be punished with a fine of not less than Two hundred fifty thousand
pesos (P250,000.00) but not more than Five hundred thousand pesos
(P500,000.00) for the first offense; a fine of not less than Five hundred
thousand pesos (P500,000.00) but not more than One million pesos
(P1,000,000.00 for the second offense; and a fine of not less than One
million pesos (P1,000,000.00) but not more than Two million pesos



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(P2,000,000.00) for the third and succeeding offenses, as may be determined
by the court.

SEC. 11. Joint Congressional Oversight Committee (JCOC). - There
is hereby created a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee to monitor the
effective implementation of this Act, recommend the necessary remedial or
administrative measures and perform such other duties and functions as
may be necessary to attain the objectives of this Act.

‘The oversight committee shall be composed of ten (10) members, with
the Chairpersons of the Committees on Energy of both Houses of Congress
as Co-Chairpersons. The Chairpersons of the House Committee on
Information and Communications Technology and Senate Committee on
Public Services shall be the Co-Vice Chairpersons. An additional three (3)
members from each House, shall be designated by the Senate President and
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively. Provided, That at
least one (1) member from each House shall be nominated by their
respective Minority Leaders. The secretariat of the JCOC shall be the
existing secretariat personnel of the concerned Committees of both Houses
of Congress.

SEC. 12. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The ERC shall, in
consultation with the DPWH, DILG, DICT, NTC, TRANSCO, PRBEE, PRC-
BECE, NEA, IIEE and representatives from the LGUs, the electric, cable and
telecommunications companies, promulgate the necessary Implementing
Rules and Regulations (IRR) within one hundred twenty (120) days from the
effectivity of this Act

SEC. 13. Separability Clause. - If, for any reason, any provision of
this Act is declared unconstitutional or invalid, the other provisions hereof,
which are not affected thereby shall continue to be in full force and effect.

SEC. 14. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders, rules and
regulations or parts thereof, which are inconsistent with or contrary to the
provisions of this Act, are hereby repealed, amended or modified

accordingly.



SEC. 15. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after
its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general
circulation.

Approved,