Requesting Entity: Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)

Issues Concern: Letter of Instructions (LOI) 1307

Details

Whether LOI 1307 was repealed or superseded by Republic Act (RA) 9184 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).

A careful reading of LOI 1307 shows that it encourages the use of domestically produced goods as opposed to importing similar items as stated in Sections 1 and 2 thereof.

On the other hand, Section 4 of RA 9184 provides that in the procurement of goods, supplies and materials, procuring entities should observe Commonwealth Act (CA) 138, which gives preference to native products and domestic entities. This rule on domestic preference is also reflected in Section 43 of the IRR relative to the rule on source of goods. It should be noted that both LOI 1307 and RA 9184 allow goods to be sourced from foreign suppliers albeit with some limitations.

[T]here is no conflict between the provisions of LOI 1307 and RA 9184, including its IRR, as both laws endeavor to promote domestically produced goods and limit the reliance on foreign goods. As such, since RA 9184 did not expressly repeal LOI 1307, and considering that there is no conflict between the two laws, we are of the considered view that RA 9184 did not repeal or supersede LOI 1307.