FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC ) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
First Regular Session 
1 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The Constitution, Article III, Section 27, states: 
The State shall maintain honesty and integrity in the public service and 
take positive and effective measures against graft and corruption. 
Article IX, Section 1, states: 
Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must at all 
times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, 
integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest 
lives. 
It is a prevalent practice among public officers, whether elected or appointed, to append 
their names on public works projects which were either funded or facilitated through their office. 
This is unnecessary and highly unethical. Crediting individual public officers, instead of the 
Government, lead to the following evils: firstly, such a system fosters and promotes a culture of 
political patronage and corruption, and diminishes the importance that the public needs to place 
on supporting government officials, not because of their popularity, but because of their essential 
role in policy determination, whether on the local or national level; and, secondly, it diminishes 
the concept of continuity in good governance in the mind of the public. This bill seeks to curb 
this unethical practice.* 
* This hill was originally filed during the ThiTteenth Congress, First Regular Session. 


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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC ) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
7 JLL 24 i’:;:..: 
First Regular Session 
) 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
AN ACT 
PROHIBITING PUBLIC OFFICERS FROM CLAIMING CREDIT THROUGH SIGNAGE 
ANNOUNCING A PUBLIC WORKS PROJECT 
Be it enacted in the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Anti-Signage of Public 
Works Act.” 
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is the State’s policy for public officers to serve 
with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, and to maintain honesty and 
integrity in public service. 
SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. -For the purpose of this Act, the term: 
(A) “Government” means the national government, the local governments, the 
government-owned and government-controlled corporations, and all other 
instrumentalities or agencies of the Republic of the Philippines and their branches; 
(B) “Public officer” means elective and appointive officials and employees, permanent 
or temporary, whether in the classified or unclassified or exempt service receiving 
compensation, even nominal, from the government as defined in the preceding 
paragraph; 
(C) “Public works” includes, but is not limited to the following: streets, bridges, 
sidewalks, walkways, public buildings, public parks, sewage facilities, basketball 
courts, waiting sheds, and lampposts, which are funded, wholly or partly, though 
public funds released by the Government; and 
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(D) “Signage” any form of written announcement, installed, posted, hanged, painted or 
otherwise displayed in a public place. 
SECTION 4. Prohibited Acts. - The following constitute a violation of this Act: 
(A) Affixing, or causing to be affixed, the name, or image of any public official to a 
signage announcing a proposed or on-going public works project. 
(B) Installing, or causing to be installed, signage announcing the maintenance, 
rehabilitation, and construction of public works crediting individual public officer, 
or bearing his or her image, for the maintenance, rehabilitation, and construction of 
such public works. 
SECTION 5. Allowed Practices. - Nothing in this Act shall be construed to exclude 
agencies, departments, and local government units from: 
(A) Affixing, or causing to be affixed, their official name, or logo to a signage 
announcing a proposed or on-going public works project; or 
(B) Installing, or causing to be installed, signage announcing the maintenance, 
rehabilitation, and construction of public works crediting the agency, department, or 
local government unit, or bearing their logo, for the maintenance, rehabilitation, and 
construction of such public works. 
SECTION. 6. Removal of Existing Signage. - The Department of Public Works and 
Highways in coordination with the Department of Interior and Local Government and the Metro 
Manila Development Authority is hereby ordered to remove all existing signage announcing a 
proposed or on-going public works project, and all existing signage announcing the maintenance, 
rehabilitation and construction of a public works project bearing the name or image of an 
individual public officer, within three (3) months after the effectivity of this Act. 
SECTION 7. Prescription of Offenses. - All offenses punishable under this Act shall 
prescribe in ten (10) years. 
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SECTION 8. Penalties for Violations. - Any public officer committing any of the 
prohibited acts in Section 4 shall be punished with imprisonment for not less than six (6) months 
nor more than one (1) year, and perpetual disqualification from public office. 
SECTION 9. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof is held invalid or 
unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall remain 
valid and subsisting. 
SECTION 10. Repealing Clause. - Any law, presidential decree or issuance, executive 
order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary to, or inconsistent 
with, the provision of this Act is hereby repealed, modified or amended accordingly. 
SECTION 11. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen days (1 5) days after 
its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved, 
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