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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
1 
First Regular Session 
1 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
Introduced by Senator JUAN MIGUEL F. ZUBIRI 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The government is obliged to protect and render basic services to its inhabitants, and the 
latter, in turn, are required to support their government in terms of enforced and mandatory 
contributions called taxes. 
However, it is also the duty of the government to alleviate the suffering of its inhabitants 
in view of the economic hardships they face. Such alleviation can come from various forms such 
as implementation of social legislations, implementation of finance-generating programs or 
simply maximizing the taxes paid by the citizens and returning the same through efficient and 
adequate basic services. 
A great portion of our taxes goes to the funding of public works projects. This would 
include bridges, buildings, irrigation, dike, roads, canal improvement, and the like. An astute 
observer will note that after just a few years, these projects collapse. It could be attributed to the 
inherent SOP given by unscrupulous contractors to some rotten bureaucrats to comer the award 
of a project or cover the lapses in the implementation. 
Bribe is taken from the contract price, hence, price adjustments are in turn done during 
project construction resulting to defective construction works. Aside from the fact that it is a 
very unsound and unethical business practice, the life and limbs of ordinary citizens are 
imperiled. Notice could be taken of bridges collapsing on minor earthquakes or building falling 
due to plain poor workmanship. 
It is hightime that we penalize not only government officials entering into contracts or 
transactions manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the government. We must likewise 
impose criminal sanctions against erring contractors for utter defective workmanship. The 
stability of a structure is tested by time. Those contractors must give warranty of their work else, 
we shall witness helplessly the collapse of our bridges, buildings, roads, dikes among our major 
waterways, or even airports and seaports. 
In view of the foregoing, it is strongly recommended that this bill be approved 
immediately. 


FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
'69 
'J -5 
Introduced by Senator JUAN MIGUEL F. ZUBIRI 
AN ACT 
IMPOSING CRIMINAL SANCTIONS AGAINST UNSCRUPULOUS CONTRACTORS 
AND AWARDEES OF GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS THEREBY AMENDING 
REPUBLIC ACT 9184 AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the "Anti-Unscrupulous Contractors Act." 
SECTION 2. Section 62 of Republic Act No. 9184 is hereby amended to read as follows: 
"a) For the procurement of Goods, in order to assure that manufacturing defects 
shall be corrected by the supplier, manufacturer, or distributor, as the case may 
be, for a specific time after performance of the contract, a warranty shall be 
required from the contract awardee for A MINIMUM OF THREE (3) YEARS 
FROM THE DELIVERY OF SUPPLIES, the obligation for which shall be 
covered by either retention money in the amount equivalent to a percentage of 
every progress payment, or a special bank guarantee equivalent to a percentage of 
the total contract price, to be provided in the IRR. The said amounts shall only be 
released after the lapse of the warranty period, provided that the Goods supplied 
are free from defects and all the conditions imposed under the contract have been 
fully met. 
"b) For the procurement of infrastrncture projects, the contractor shall assume full 
responsibility for the contract work from the time project construction 
commenced up to FIVE (5) YEARS COUNTED FROM THE COMPLETION 
OF THE PROJECT REGARDLESS OF THE CONTRACT AMOUNT taking 
into consideration the scale and coverage of the project from its final acceptance 
by the government and shall be held responsible for any damage for construction 
works except those occasioned by force majeure. The contractor shall be fully 
responsible for the safety, protection, security, and convenience of his personnel, 
third parties, and the public at large, as well as the works, equipment, installation 


and the like to be affected by his construction work and shall be required to put up 
a warranty security in the form of cash, bank guarantee, letter of credit, 
Government Service Insurance System bond, or callable surety bond. 
The contractor shall undertake the repair works, at his own 
expense, of any defect or damage to the infrastructure projects on account of the 
use of materials of inferior quality within ninety (90) days from the time the Head 
of the Procuring Entity has issued an order to undertake repair. In case of failure 
or refusal to comply with this mandate, the government shall undertake such 
repair works and shall be entitled to full reimbursement of expenses incurred 
therein upon demand. 
Any contractor who fails to comply with the preceding paragraph 
shall suffer perpetual disqualification from participating in any public bidding and 
his property or properties shall be subject to attachment or garnishment 
proceedings to recover the costs. All payables of government in his favor shall be 
offset to recover the costs. 
THE PROPRIETOR OR IN CASE OF A PARTNERSHIP OR 
CORPORATION, THE PARTNERS OR CORPORATORS, AS THE CASE 
MAY BE, SHALL BE SOLIDARILY LIABLE WITH ANY PERSON FOUND 
GUILTY OF CONSTRUCTING DEFECTIVE PUBLIC WORKS AND SHALL 
SUFFER THE PENALTY OF TWELVE (12) YEARS IMPRISONMENT IF 
ACTUAL INJURY OCCURS TO ANY PERSON SUFFERING OR FOUND TO 
SUFFER THEREFROM AND TWENTY (20) YEARS IMPRISONMENT IF 
ACTUAL DEATH OCCURS. 
THE CIVIL LIABILITY OF THE PROPRIETOR, PARTNERS, OR 
CORPORATORS 
TO THE GOVERNMENT SHALL BE TREBLE THE 
AMOUNT OF THE REPORTED INCOME OF THE CONTRACTOR FROM 
THE PARTICULAR GOVERNMENT PROJECT. 
PRIVATE PERSONS 
SHALL FILE THEIR CLAIM IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PERTINENT 
PROVISIONS OF THE CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES. 
“c) ANY AGGRIEVED TAXPAYER, EITHER ALONE OR WITH SOME 
OTHER PERSONS, SHALL BE AUTHORIZED TO FILE A CLASS SUIT 
AGAINST ANY OF THE PERSONS LIABLE UNDER THIS ACT. 
SECTION 3. Any other law, presidential decree or issuance, executive order, letter of 
instruction, administrative order, proclamation order, rule or regulation and/or parts thereof 
contrary to or inconsistent with this Act, is hereby repealed, modified or amended accordingly. 
SECTION 4. If any provision of this Act is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the 
other provisions not affected thereby shall remain valid and subsisting. 


SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect immediately upon its approval. 
Approved,