Memorandum Circular No. 8 dated 1 January 1977 is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Submission of Letter of Intent to Acquire Vessels, whether by Importation, Local construction or by Acquisition from Local Shipowners , prior to any negotiation for the actual acquisition of the same. In line with the present policy of the government to expand and modernize the Philippine Merchant Marine fleet, and in order to determine the economic and technical feasibility of any intended acquisition of vessels for their maximum utilization in the inter-island and overseas trade, and to avert unnecessary expenditures attendant to any premature negotiation for vessel-acquisitions, authority for which may subsequently be denied by this Office for non-compliance with existing rules, policies and guidelines on the matter, you are hereby required to submit for proper evaluation and approval a letter of intent for the acquisition of vessels, whether by importation by local construction, or by purchase from existing local shipowners, prior to any negotiation for the actual acquisition of the same, containing, among others, the following information:

1.            General particulars of the vessel

2.            Proposed acquisition cost of the vessel and financing scheme.

3.            Type of operation envisioned, whether as contract or common carrier

4.            Brief description of present shipping operations or related shipping activities and membership in any maritime organization like CISO, PSA, FSA, LAP, etc. and

The penalty imposed by Memorandum Circular No. 8 on importation and local construction and the policy guidelines established by Memorandum Circular No. 10 for the evaluation of requests for authority to acquire vessels are reiterated herein.

This Memorandum Circular shall take effect on November 1, 1979.

Adopted: 1 Oct. 1979

(SGD.) GENEROSO F. TANSECO
Administrator