2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIFTEEN - Sports and Parks (§§ 1 — 2020) › Subtitle 1 - Generally (§§ 1 — 915) › Chapter 25 - Puerto Rico National Parks Recreational Development Company (§§ 501 — 520) › § 505 - Powers

The Company shall have and may exercise the following general powers in addition to those conferred in other places by this chapter:
(a) To have perpetual existence as a company.
(b) To adopt, alter, and use a seal which shall be judicially noticed.
(c) To prescribe, adopt, amend, and repeal bylaws governing the manner in which its general business may be conducted and the powers and duties granted to and imposed upon it by law may be exercised and performed.
(d) To have complete control and supervision of any and all of its property and activities, including the power to determine the character of and necessity for all its expenditures and the manner in which they shall be incurred, allowed and paid without regard to the provisions of any laws governing the expenditure of public funds, and such determination shall be final and conclusive upon all officers of the Commonwealth Government; and to prescribe, adopt, amend, and repeal such rules and regulations as may be necessary or proper for the exercise and performance of its powers and duties.
(e) To sue and be sued.
(f) To make contracts and to execute all instruments necessary or convenient in the exercise of any of its powers.
(g) To acquire in any lawful manner, including, but without limitation, acquisition by purchase, condemnation, lease, bequest, devise, gift, and to hold, maintain, use and operate any property, real, personal, or mixed, tangible or intangible, including, but without limitation, securities and other personal property or any interest therein, deemed by it necessary or desirable for carrying out the purposes of the Company.
(h) To appoint such officers, agents, and employees and vest them with such powers and duties, and to fix, change, and pay such compensation for their services as the Company may determine.
(i) To borrow money and make and issue bonds of the Company for any of its corporate purposes or for the purpose of funding, refunding, paying, or discharging any of its outstanding or assumed bonds or obligations, and to secure payment of its bonds and of any and all other obligations by pledge or mortgage of, or other lien on, all or any of its contracts, revenues, income or property.
(j) To accept grants or loans from, and enter into contracts, leases, agreements, or other transactions with, any federal agency, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or political subdivisions of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and to expend the proceeds of any such grants or loans for any corporate purposes.
(k) [To] lease, sell and dispose of any of its properties, that has not been designated as a national park, as prescribed by the Company itself. Provided, That the real property of the Company that is a part of a national park shall not be leased or alienated for a purpose that is other than public.
(l) To acquire, hold and dispose of stocks, memberships, contracts, bonds or other interests in other companies, entities, or corporations, and to exercise any and all powers or rights in connection therewith and to obtain the organization in accordance with law and exercise partial or complete control over subsidiary, affiliated or associated companies or corporations whenever, in the opinion of the Board of Directors, such an arrangement is necessary, appropriate or convenient for the effectuation of the purposes of the Company, or the exercise of its powers, and to sell, lease, give, or otherwise grant any of the properties of the Company or delegate or transfer any of its rights, powers, functions or duties to any such companies, entities, or corporations subject to its control.
(m) The Company may invest any available funds in its possession in obligations of the United States of America or in obligations secured by the United States, or in bonds or other obligations of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, of its municipalities, or of public corporations.
(n) To do all acts or things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers granted to it by this chapter or by any other act of the Legislature of Puerto Rico, or by any act of the Congress of the United States; Provided, however, That the Company shall have no power at any time or in any manner to pledge the credit or taxing power of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any of its political subdivisions, nor shall the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any of its political subdivisions be liable for the payment of the principal of or interest on any bonds issued by the Company.
(o) When in the judgment of the Company it should be necessary to take immediate possession of the properties to be condemned, the Company shall request from the Secretary of Sports and Recreation to acquire, in behalf of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the latter shall be empowered to acquire, by purchase, condemnation, or by any other lawful means, for the use and benefit of the Company, all real property and property rights necessary and convenient for carrying out the ends and purposes thereof. The Company shall place beforehand at the disposal of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico the necessary funds estimated as the value of the property or rights to be acquired. The difference in value which may be decreed by the court may be paid from the public treasury, but the Company shall be under obligation to reimburse said difference. After reimbursement in full is made, title to said property shall be transferred to the Company, upon order of the court to that effect; Provided, That in all cases where the Secretary of Sports and Recreation should deem it necessary and convenient that the title to the property and/or rights so acquired be directly recorded in behalf of the Company so as to speed up the fulfillment of the ends and purposes for which the same was created, he may so request from the court at any time within the condemnation proceedings, and the court shall so order. The power hereby conferred shall not limit or restrain in any wise whatsoever the inherent power of the Company to acquire property.
(p) All real and personal property and all rights or interests therein which the Company may deem necessary to acquire for carrying out its purposes, are hereby declared of public utility, and the same may be condemned by the Company, or at the request and for the use and benefit thereof, by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, represented by the Secretary of Sports and Recreation, without the previous declaration of public utility provided in § 2 of the General Law of Eminent Domain, § 2902 of Title 32.
(q) Condemnation proceedings instituted under the provisions of subsections (g), (o), and (p) of this section shall be prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of the General Law of Eminent Domain, §§ 2901—2913 of Title 32, and to such effect the Company shall enjoy all the rights and shall assume all the obligations prescribed by said act with respect to all expropriating authority.
(r) The Company, in its capacity as Trustee of the National Parks Trust, shall have all powers to administer the Trust, allowing it to use its discretion in the management and transfer of funds and of real or personal properties between both entities in accordance to the purposes of the Trust and to the amendments thereto that the Company deems convenient.
History —June 23, 1961, No. 114, p. 234, § 5; Nov. 17, 1993, No. 90, § 3; Apr. 8, 2001, No. 10, § 5; Jan. 8, 2004, No. 36, § 2.