17 CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
) 
OF THE PIIILIPPINES 
)
First Regular Session 
)
SENATE
S.B. No. 
1 1 5 0
s f lh e (^ i 'n r l '! r y
*16 
SEP 19 
P12 3 0
Rl ( i I' 
n y
Introduced by Senator Emmanuel D. Pacquiao
AN ACT
^ 
MINDANAO RAILWAYS AUTHORITY PRESCRIBING ITS 
OWERS, FUNCTIONS, AND DUTIES, AND PROVIDING FOR THE NECESSARY 
FUNDS FOR ITS OPERATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
EXPLANATORY NO! E
To balance development in the country, it is a must to cfnciently link and connect the 
ajor Cities of Mindanao by rail. Mindanao, known as the country's food basket, is the 
second largest island group m the country with a population of 22 million (world’s 10th most 
populous island) and an annual population growth rate of 1.9 percent from 2000 to 2010. 
owever, due to poor quality of roads, incomplete road networks and wanting of a mass 
ransit ystem, travel cost and food commodity transfer to Mindanao agricultural areas has 
been a daily struggle for the Mindanaoans.
r • . t Th!S bil1 seeks to enlia|ice interconnectivity and linkages through passengers and 
freight railway transport development, and further boost trade, commerce and tourism in 
Mindanao. The Mindanao RailwaysAuthority will manage and operate the original proposed 
development phases of the Mindanao Railways Project or MindaRail, which is to beeffected
in SIX stages or phases that will eventually cover the whole of Mindanao including the inner 
cities and towns. 
6
Immediate passage of this bill is highly needed.
EMMANUEL
Senator


17"'CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
) 
OI THE PHILIPPINES 
)
First Regular Session 
)
SENATE
S.B. No. 
1 1 5 0
•16 
SEP 19 
P12:30
Introdueed by Senator Einnianuel D. Pacquiao
AN ACT
CREATING THE MINDANAO RAILWAYS AUTHORITY PRESCRIBING ITS 
POWEILS, FUNCTIONS, AND DUTIES, AND PRO\ IDING FOR THE NECESSARY 
FUNDS FOR ITS OPERATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
Be if enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines Congress 
assembled:
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CHAPTER 1
TITLE, POLICY AND OBJECTIVES
SECTION 1.Short Title- 
Authority Act of 2016”.
-This Act shall be known as the “Mindanao Railways
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. -  It is hereby declared the policy of the State to attain 
inclusive growth and reduce poverty through infrastructure development aiming to improve 
the sectoral pcrfonnancc of tourism, agriculture and industries; improve goods and services; 
improve the quality of the environment; and increase resilience to climate change and natural 
disasters, through the establishment of a sustainable transport system that is safe, efficient, 
and competitive.
Further, in order to promote comprehensive rural development and assure the human 
right to travel in Mindanao, the State shall (1) create a national government agency to achieve 
its development goals; and (2) provide appropriations for the construction, operation, 
maintenance and more importantly, the sustainability of the railways system and the 
operative budget of the national government agency to be created under this Act.
SEC. 3. Creation and Objectives. - There shall be created the Mindanao Railways 
Authority (MRA), hereinafter called the Authority, which is the national government agency 
attached to the Office of the President, with the following immediate objectives:
a) 
To provide for the railways system in Mindanao connecting as vast an area as 
deemed feasible in consideration of the Mindanao Railways Project (MRP) as mandated 
under the Philippine National Railways Charter or Republic Act No.4156, and, the MRP


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Feasibility Study as an undertaking of the National Eeonomic and Development Authority 
(NEDA) as Exeeuting Agency and the Department of Transportation and Communication 
(DOTC) as Implementing Agency and funded under the General Appropriations Act of FY 
2017;
b) To initiate the provisions of “An Act Facilitating The Acquisition Of Right-Of- 
Way Site or Location For National Government Infrastructure Projects” or R.A. No. 10752 
upon effectivity of this Act; and
c) To call upon all concerned National Government Agencies and Local Government 
Units to render teclmical and administrative support for the implementation of the provisions 
of this Act.
CHAPTER II
NATURE, SPECIFIC AND GENERAL POWERS
SEC. 4. Name and Domicile. - To carry out the foregoing transportation policy, the 
Mindanao Railways Authority, shall be primarily responsible for the construction, operation 
and maintenance of a railways transportation system in Mindanao. It shall have its main 
office in the City of Davao, and shall have such branches and agencies within or outside the 
Philippines as may be necessary for the proper conduct of its business.
SEC. 5.Purposes and Specific Powers. - The Mindanao Railways Authority shall have 
the following purposes and specific powers:
a) To hold the assets of the Philippine National Railways, and to succeed to, or 
acquire, maintain and operate such grants, concessions and franchises as are now held and 
enjoyed by the PNR but limited only to those located in Mindanao among the 
aforementioned;
b) To own or operate railroads, tramways, and other kinds of land transportation, 
vessels and pipelines, for the purpose of transporting, for consideration, passengers, mail and 
property between any points in Mindanao; and
c) As an auxiliary to its main purpose, to own and/or operate powerhouses, hotels, 
restaurants, terminal and warehouses; to manufacture rolling stock, equipment, tools and 
other appliances; and, to construct and operate toll viaducts and toll tunnels, in connection 
with its railroad lines.
SEC. 6. General Powers. - Tlie Authority shall have the following general powers;
a) To have continuous succession under its corporate name, until otherwise provided
b) Toprcscribe, amend,and/or repeal its by-laws;
c) To adopt and use a seal and alter it at its pleasure;
d) To sue and be sued;
by law;


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e) To contract any obligation or enter into, assign or accept the assignment of, and 
vary or rescind any agreement, contract or obligation necessary or incidental to the proper 
management of the Authority;
f) To borrow funds from any source, private or public, foreign or domestic, and to 
issue bonds and other evidence of indebtedness, the payment of which shall be guaranteed by 
the National Government, subject to pertinent borrowing laws;
g) To acquire, receive, take and hold by bequest, devise, gift, purchase or lease, either 
absolutely or in trust for any of its purposes, from foreign and domestic sources, any assets, 
grants or property, real or personal, subject to such limitations as arc provided in existing 
laws; to convey or dispose such assets, grants, or properties, movable and immovable; and 
invest and/or reinvests such proceeds and deal with and expand its assets and income in such 
a manner as will best promote its objectives;
h) To improve, develop or alter any property held by it;
i) To carry on any business, either alone or in partnership with any other person or 
persons;
j) To employ an agent or contractor or perfonn such things as the Authority may 
perform;
k) To exercise the right of eminent domain, whenever the Authority deems it 
necessary for the attainment of its objectives;
l) To prescribe rules and regulations in the conduct of its general business as well as 
to fix and implement the terms and condition of its related activities;
m) To detennine the fares payable by persons travelling on the rail system, in 
consultation with the Department of Transportation and the NEDA;
n) To establish, operate, and maintain branches or field offices when required by the 
exigencies of its business;
o) To determine its organizational structure and the number, positions and salaries of 
its personnel, subject to pertinent organization and compensation law; and
p) To exercise such powers and perform such duties as may be necessary to carry out 
the business and purposes for which the Authority was established or which, from time to 
time, may be declared by the Board of Directors to be necessary, useful, incidental or 
auxiliary to accomplish such purposes; and generally, to exercise all powers of any Authority 
under the Corporation Law that are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, or with 
orders pertaining to government corporate budgeting, organization, borrowing, or 
compensation.
CHAPTER III
THE MRA BOARD OF DIRECTORS


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SEC. 7. The MRA Board of Directors. - To carry out the puqioses of this Act, the 
MRA shall be directed and controlled by a Board of Directors. It shall be composed of the 
following members:
a) Secretary of Transportation, as Chairperson;
b) MRA Administrator, as Vice-Chairperson;
c) Secretary of Finance;
d) Secretary of Economic Planning, Director General of the NEDA;
e) Secretary of Public Works and Highways; and
f) Two representatives from the private sector who shall each be selected from the 
members of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE) and the Philippine Society of 
Mechanical Engineers (PSME), to be appointed by the President of the Philippines who shall 
select from three (3) nominees submitted separately by the PICE and PSME. They shall serve 
a non-extendible single term of three (3) years.
The officials next in rank to, or such officials duly designated by, the regular members 
shall serve as alternate members, except that, in the absence of the Chairman, the Board shall 
elect a temporary presiding officer. The alternate members shall attend meetings of the Board 
and committees assigned to them by their principals and receive the corresponding per diems, 
whenever their principals arc absent or said positions are vacant.
SEC. 8. Per Diem. - The members of the Board shall not receive any compensation 
but shall be provided with per diem at rates allowed under existing rules and regulations.
SEC. 9. Powers and Duties of the Board of Directors, 
have the following powers and duties:
The Board of Directors shall
a) To prescribe, amend and repeal, with the approval of the Administrator, the by­
laws, rules and regulations governing the manner in which the general business of the 
Authority may be exercised, including provisions for the formation of such committee, or 
committees as the Board of Directors may deem necessary to facilitate its business;
b) To appoint and fix the compensation of the Administrator and of the other officers 
of the Authority, with the approval of the President and the Director General of NEDA. The 
Board by a majority vote of all the members, may, for cause, and with the approval of the 
President of the Philippines, suspend and or remove the Administrator;
c) To approve the annual and such supplemental budgets of the Authority which may 
be submitted to it by the Administrator from time to time.
SEC. lO.Suspension and Removal of Directors. -  Any member of the Board of 
Directors may be suspended or removed by the President of the Philippines.
SEC 11. Prohibited for Board Members. -  No chaimian or member of the Board of 
Directors shall at the same time serve in the Authorityin any capacity whatsoever other than


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as chairman or member thereof, unless otlierwise authorized by the President of the 
Philippines or any existing law.
CHAPTER IV 
THE ADMINISTRATOR
SEC. 12. The Administrator. - The management of the Authority shall be vested in the 
Administrator.
SEC. 13. Powers and Duties of the Administrator. -  The Administrator shall have the 
following powers and duties:
a) To direct and manage the affairs and business of the Authority on behalf of the Board 
of Directors, and subject to its control and supervision;
b) To sit in all meetings of the Board of Directors, as Vice Chainnan, and participate in 
all deliberation, with the right to vote, to preside any meetings for or in the absence of 
chairman;
c) To submit within sixty days after the close of each fiscal year an annual report, 
through the Board of Direetors, to the office of the President of the Philippines and 
the Congress of the Philippines;
d) To appoint and fix the number and salaries, with the approval of the Board of 
Directors, of such subordinate persoimel as may be necessary for the proper discharge 
of duties and function of the Authority, and with the approval of the Board of 
Directors, to remove, suspend, or otlierwise discipline, any subordinate employee of 
the Authority; and
e) To perform such other duties as may be assigned to him by the Board of Directors 
trom time to time.
SEC. 14. Appointment and Promotion. 
-  In the appointments and promotion of 
officers and employees, merit and efficiency shall serve as basis, and no political test 
or qualification shall be 
prescribed and considered for 
such appointments or 
promotion. Officers and employees shall be subject to the Civil Service Crew, rules 
and regulations.
CHAPTER V
MANDATED APPROPRIATIONS
SEC. 15. APPROPRIATION. TO carry out the purposes of this Act, the amount of 
One Billion Pesos (PI,000,000,000.00) is hereby authorized to be appropriated for the initial 
operation of the Mindanao Railways Authority. Therefore, the annual Expenditures including 
capital outlays of the Authority shall be provided in the General Appropriations Act.


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CHAPTER VI
TAXES, DUTIES AND CHARGE
SEC. 16. Exemptions from taxes, duties, customs bonds and port charges.-The 
authority is hereby exempt from payments of all national and local taxes upon its capital, 
franchises, riglit of way, Earning and all other property owned or operated by it and of all 
railways materials, supplies andequipment imported into the Philippines for and by the 
Authority. This exemption shall extend to port charges upon vessel whose entire cargo 
consist of material for the construction equipment of the authority, and, on other vessel to 
such contraction or equipment may bear to the tonnage of the entire cargo of the vessel; and 
such exemption shall further extend to fdling of general importer’s and general documentary 
bonds and warehouse bonds for the operation of its warehouse, Wlicthcr bonded warehouse 
or general order store.
SEC. 17. Tax-exempt Loans. The project and program loans to be obtained by the 
National Government for the purposes of this Act shall be exempt from the payment of all 
national and local taxes.
CHAPTER VII 
AUDIT AND REPORTS
SEC. 18. Audit Personnel and Reports. -  Tlie Authority shall be subject to the 
Commission on Audit (COA) which shall have the power, authority and the duty to examine, 
audit, and settle all accounts pertaining to the revenue and receipts of, and expenditures or 
uses of funds and property of the Authority.
a) Personnel. -  The Chairman of the COA shall appoint a representative who shall be the 
Auditor of the Authority, and the necessary personnel to assist said representative in 
the pcrfomiance of such duties. The number of personnel and corresponding salaries 
of the Auditor and the personnel shall be detemiined by the COA chainnan, subject to 
appropriation by the Board of Directors. In the ca.se of disagreement, the matter shall 
be final. Said salaries and all other expenses of maintaining the Auditor’s offiee shall 
be paid by the Authority.
b) Report. The financial transaction of the Authority shall be audited in aeeordance with 
law, administrative regulations, and the principles and procedures applicable to the 
commercial corporate transaction. A report of audit for each for each Fiscal year, by 
the representative of the COA chairman, thought the latter, to the Board of Directors 
of the Authority, and Copies thereof shall be furnished the President of the 
Philippines, the secretary of Economic Planning, the Senate president and the Speaker 
of the House of Representatives. The report shall be set forth the scope of the Audit 
and shall include a statement and surplus or deficit analysis; statement of income and 
expenses; a statement of sources and application of funds; and such comments and 
information as may be necessary, together with such recommendations with respect


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thereto as may be advisable, including a report of any program, expenditures, or other 
financial transaction or undertaking observed in the course of audit, which in the 
opinion of the Auditor, has been carried out or made authority of Law.
SEC. 19. Legal Department. - The Authority shall have its own legal department, the 
chief and members of which shall be appointed by the Administrator with the approval of the 
Board of Directors.
SEC. 20. Exemption from the LTFRB Law. - The Authority shall not be subject to the 
authority, supervision and control of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory 
Board (LTFRB), created under Executive Order No. 202, Series of 1987.
SEC. 21. Strikes during national emergency. - The provisions of law to the contrary 
notwithstanding, in cases of national emergency, or when in the opinion of the President of 
the Philippines, the national security or interest is in imminent danger, employees and 
labourers of the Authority shall not strike for the purposes of securing changes or 
modification in their tenns and conditions of employment during said period of emergency. 
Provided, however. That during the implementation of this Act, management and labor 
should always strive to maintain industrial peace by availing of and exhausting all methods of 
resolving all labor disputes to ensure the continuous, effective and successful establishment 
of the Mindanao Railways: Provided, further. That the Authority may enter into collective 
bargaining agreements, one for personnel of supervisory rank and the other for personnel of 
non-supervisory rank regardless of the number of recognized unions which may be or might 
have been organized therein.
SEC. 22. Applicability of the Corporation Law. - The provisions of the Corporation Law 
which are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, shall be applicable to the 
Authority.
SEC. 23. Implementing Rules and Regulations.—The Department of Transportation, in 
consultation with concerned government agencies and stakeholders, shall promulgate the 
implementing rules and regulations of this Act, within sixty (60) days from the effectively of 
this Act.
SEC. 24. Congressional Oversight Committee. - A Congressional Oversight Committee, 
hereinafter referred to as the "Committee", is hereby constituted in accordance with the 
provisions of this Act. The Committee shall be composed of the Chairman of the Senate 
Committee on Public Services and Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and 
four (4) additional members from each House to be designated by the Senate President and 
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively. The Committee shall, among 
others, in aid of legislation:
(a) Monitor and ensure the proper implementation of this Act;
(b) Review the collection pcrfonnance of the Authority;
(c) Review the proper implementation of the programs of the Authority and the use of its 
collected fund.


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In furtherance of the hereinabove cited objectives, the Committee is empowered to 
require the Authority to submit all pertinent information including, but not limited to, its 
collection performance data and its annual audited financial statements certified by the 
Commission on Audit.
Tlie Congressional Oversight Committee shall be in existence for a period of live (5) 
years, and thereafter, its oversight ftinctions shall be exercised by the Senate Committee on 
Public Services and the House Committee on Transportation acting separately.
SEC. 25. Separability Clause. -  If any portion of this Act is declared unconstitutional or 
invalid, the portions or provisions which arc not affected shall continue to be in full force and 
effect.
SEC. 26. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders and rules and regulation 
or parts thereof which are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified 
accordingly.
SEC. 27. Effcctivity. -This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its complete 
publication in a newspaper of general circulation or in the Official Gazette.
Approved,