Republic Acts of the Philippines

Republic Acts have gone through several names. During the American period, they were simply referred to as "Acts"; during the Commonwealth period, they were referred to as "Commonwealth Acts". After independence, the name was changed to "Republic Act", which was then again changed to "Batas Pambansa" with the creation of the Batasang Pambansa (National Assembly) during the Marcos era (from 1973, however, Marcos also issued Presidential Decrees, which had the force of law). After the overthrow of Marcos in 1986, the name reverted back to "Republic Act".

[edit] List of Republic Acts

This is a list of Republic Acts that have been mentioned in Wikipedia.

[edit] Pre-Commonwealth

R.A. No.	Date Passed	What it Did
1696	September 6, 1907	Known as the Flag Law, this law proscribed the Philippine flag and banned the use of the Philippine national anthem. The law was repealed in 1919.
1790	October 12, 1907	Permitted the Banco Español-Filipino to change its name. The name change took place on January 1, 1912 into today's Bank of the Philippine Islands.
1876	August 18, 1908	Mountain Province was established with Amburayan, Apayao, Benguet, Bontoc, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Lepanto as sub-provinces.
1952		The province of Batanes was reestablished.
2280	February 21, 1920	Marinduque was reestablished as a separate province.
2711	March 10, 1917	Established most of the modern-day provinces of the Philippines: the province of Camarines was split into Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur and the province of Bohol was created.
2871	October 22, 1919	Repealed the Flag Law and legalized the use of the Philippine flag and national anthem.
3436	November 28, 1928	Established the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) with the bill granting it a 50-year charter.
3827	October 28, 1931	Declared the last Sunday of August as National Heroes' Day.
Commonwealth Era
1	December 21, 1935	The National Defense Act of 1935, which created an independent Philippine army.
39	October 12, 1936	Established Zamboanga City.
382	December 5, 1938	The English words to the Philippine national anthem were made official.
502	October 22, 1939	Established Quezon City.

[edit] Post-Commonwealth

R.A. No.	Date Passed	What it Did
14	September 7, 1946	Changed the name of the province of Tayabas to Quezon.
85		Charter of the Development Bank of the Philippines.
265		Established the Central Bank of the Philippines.
305	December 15, 1948	Declared Naga City a chartered city.
333	July 17, 1948	Declared Quezon City the capital of the Philippines.
387	June 18, 1949	Petroleum Act of 1949
537	June 16, 1950	Extended the area of Quezon City.
711	June 6, 1952	The province of Zamboanga is split into Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur.
2141	April 8, 1959	Made Biliran a sub-province of Leyte.
2786	June 19, 1960	The province of Surigao is split into Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur.
3518	June 18, 1963	Established the Philippine Veterans Bank
3844	August 8, 1963	Established the pace for land reform in the Philippines. Landbank was formed from this law.
4200	June 19, 1965	The anti-wiretapping law.
4695	June 18, 1966	Formed the provinces of Kalinga-Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, and Mountain Province from the earlier Mountain Province
4979		Divided Agusan into Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur
6134	August 30, 1970	Converted the town of Surigao, Surigao del Norte into a city
6173		Oil Industry Commission Act
6395		Charter of the National Power Corporation
6396	September 17, 1971	Made Siquijor an independent province.
6430	June 17, 1972	Changed the name of the province of Davao del Norte to Davao.

[edit] Marcos Era

R.A. No.	Date Passed	What it Did
8	December 2, 1978	Defined the metric system and set the basis for the implementation of the metric system in the Philippines. Modern Philippine Standard Time was also instituted under this law.
54	December 22, 1979	Set the date of January 30, 1980 as the date for a plebiscite to ratify the 1976 amendments to the 1973 Constitution of the Philippines.
122	March 10, 1981	Set the date of April 7, 1981 as the date for a plebiscite to ratify the 1981 amendments to the 1973 Constitution of the Philippines.
883	December 3, 1985	Set the date of February 7, 1986 as the date for a snap election for President and Vice-President. Ferdinand Marcos and Arturo Tolentino win the election, but are overthrown by the EDSA Revolution, bringing Corazon Aquino and Salvador Laurel to power.

[edit] Post-Marcos Era

R.A. No.	Date Passed	What it Did
6639	November 27, 1987	Changed the name of Manila International Airport to Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
6645	December 28, 1987	Prescribes the manner in how to fill a vacancy in the Congress of the Philippines.
6709	February 10, 1989	Declared November 5 as a non-working holiday for the province of Negros Occidental to commemorate Cinco de Noviembre, the day Negros became free.
6734	August 1, 1989	Created the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which was officially inaugurated on November 6, 1990 in Cotabato City.
6735	August 4, 1989	Set up a system of initiative and referendum.
6766	October 23, 1989	Provided for an Organic Act for the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). It mandates the creation of an autonomous government to be headed by a Regional Governor. It creates a Regional Assembly that will enact laws of regional application and a regional judiciary composed of a supreme court and lower courts.
7156	September 12, 1991	Mini-Hydro Law
7160	May 11, 1992	Made Biliran an independent province. Biliran was previously a sub-province of Leyte.
7638	December 9, 1994	Charter of the Deparment of Energy
7648	April 5, 1993	Electric Power Crisis Act
7832	December 8, 1994	"Anti-electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/Materials Pilferage Act of 1994" / an act penalizing the pilferage of electricity and theft of power transmission lines/materials, rationalizing system losses by phasing out pilferage losses as a component thereof, and for other purposes
7878	February 14, 1995	Divided Kalinga-Apayao into Kalinga and Apayao provinces.
8223	December 8, 1996	Converted the municipality of Marikina, Metro Manila into a city.
8293	June 6, 1997	The Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines (Philippine copyright law).
8438	December 22, 1997	Created the Cordillera Autonomous Region. A plebiscite, held on March 9, 1998 to ratify the bill, was held and invalidated the act. See Cordillera Administrative Region.
8470	January 31, 1998	Split the province of Davao into two, creating the province of Compostela Valley.
8471	January 31, 1998	Created the Island Garden City of Samal in Davao province by combining the municipalities of Samal, Babak, and Kaputian.
8472	January 31, 1998	Converted the municipality of Tagum, the capital of Davao, into a city.
8473	January 31, 1998	Created the municipality of Braulio E. Dujali, Davao out of several barangays in Panabo and Carmen.
8479	February 10, 1998	"Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998" / an act deregulating the downstream oil industry and for other purposes
8491	February 12, 1998	Prescribed the code of the national flag, anthem, motto, coat-of-arms and other heraldic items and devices of the Philippines.
8535	February 23, 1998	Provided for the creation of the City of Novaliches comprising the 15 northernmost barangays of Quezon City. However, in the succeeding plebiscite on October 23, 1999, an overwhelming majority of Quezon City residents voted “no” to the bill.
8749	June 23, 1999	"Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999" / An act providing for a Comprehensive Air Pollution Control Policy and for Other Purposes
8981	December 5, 2000	"PRC Modernization Act Of 2000", an act providing for the modernization of the Professional Regulation Commission.
9015	March 5, 2001	Converted the municipality of Panabo, Davao into a city.
9136	June 8, 2001	"Electric Power Industry Reforms Act of 2001" / an act ordaining reforms in the electric power industry, amending for the purpose cerain laws and for other purposes
9160	September 29, 2001	The anti-money laundering law. Subsequent foreign pressure by the FATF and by other nations resulted in this act being amended.

9189	February 13, 2003	"Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003" / an act providing for a system of overseas absentee voting by qualified citizens of the Philippines abroad, appropriating funds therefor, and for other purposes

9225	August 29, 2003	"Citizenship Retention and Re-Acquisition Act of 2003" / an act making the citizenship of Philippine citizens who acquire foreign citizenship permanent, amending for the purpose Commonwealth Act no. 63, as amended, and for other purposes

9262	March 8, 2004	Inspired by the life of Dolores Lorenzo, this act gives the protection of the law to women and children suffering from domestic abuse.

9334	December 21, 2004	An act increasing the excise tax rates imposed on alcohol and tobacco products, amending for the purpose sections 131, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, and 288 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended. Also known as the "sin tax" law.

9335	January 25, 2005	"Lateral Attrition Act of 2005" / an act to improve the revenue collection performance of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) through the creation of a rewards and incentives fund and of a revenue performance evaluation board and for other purposes

9337	May 24, 2005	An act amending sections 27, 28, 34, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 119, 121, 148, 151, 236, 237 and 288 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended, and for other purposes. Also known as the "expanded value-added tax" or the "E-VAT" law.

9346	June 24, 2006	The act repealing the death penalty, replacing the sentence with the sentence of life imprisonment and reclusion perpetua.