Section 19Sec./Art. 19

Section 32 of Commonwealth Act No. 146, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 32. The Commission may, i any investigation or hearing, by its order in writing, cause the deposition of witnesses residing within or without the Philippines to be taken in the manner and under the conditions prescribed by the Rules of Court. Where witnesses reside in places distant from Manila and it would be inconvenient and expensive for them to appear personally before the Commission, the Commission may, by proper order, commission any clerk of the Regional Trial Court of the Philippines to take the deposition of witnesses in any case pending before the Commission.

It shall be the duty of the official so commissioned, to designate promptly a date or dates for the taking of such deposition, giving timely notice to the parties, and on said date to proceed to take the deposition, reducing it to writing. After the depositions have been taken, the official so commissioned shall certify to the depositions taken and forward them as soon as possible to the Commission. It shall be the duty of the respective parties to furnish stenographers for taking and transcribing the testimony taken.

"The Commission may also, by proper order, authorize any of the attorneys of the legal division or division chiefs of the Commission, if they be lawyers, to hear and investigate any case filed with the Commission and in connection therewith to receive such evidence as may be material thereto. At the conclusion of the hearing or investigation, the attorney or division chief so authorized shall submit the evidence received by him to the Commission to enable the latter to render its decision."