Section 1
SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as "The National Defense Act."
CA 1 (The National Defense Act) TITLE I.—NATIONAL DEFENSE
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ARTICLE I.—National Defense Policy
Section 2
SEC. 2. The national defense policy of the Philippines—National, shall be as follows: The preservation of the State is the obligation of every citizen. The security of the Philippines and the freedom, independence, and perpetual neutrality of the Philippine Republic shall be guaranteed by the employment of all citizens, without distinction of age or sex, and all resources. The employment of the nation's citizens and resources for national defense shall be effected by a national mobilization. The national mobilization shall include the execution of all measures necessary to pass from a peace to a war footing. The civil authority shall always be supreme. The President of the Philippines as the Commander-in-Chief of all military forces, shall be responsible that measures are prepared at all times. A national mobilization shall be ordered in any case of threatened or actual aggression. The national defense organization shall be adapted as closely as possible to the territorial and administrative organization of the Philippines. The mobilization plans of financial, industrial, economic, social, intellectual, and moral forces and resources of the Philippines shall conform to the provisions of the Constitution of the Philippines and shall be prepared by the executive departments concerned in accordance with the following general policies: (1) The respective responsibilities of the several executive departments in mobilization planning will be prescribed by the President; (2) forces and resources shall be employed so as to secure unity and continuity of effort until the threatened or actual aggression to the Philippines has been overcome. No profit incident to war shall accrue to any individual, corporation, association or partnership.
ARTICLE II.—Employment of Persons and Resources
Section 3
SEC. 3. Military service shall be obligatory for all citizens of the Philippines, and the methods and procedure for the classification, selection, examination, induction, training, and release of all citizens from their military obligations shall be as prescribed in Title III of this Act.
Section 4
SEC. 4. The registration of citizens for military service shall be a civil function carried out by the civil authorities under the supervision of the Provost Marshal General.
Section 5
SEC. 5. During a national mobilization the Government of the Philippines, acting through the appropriate governmental department, or by delegated authority, shall have the right to secure by mutual agreement or by requisition all such resources, tangible and intangible, and all such services and all other assets or possessions, public or private, as may be necessary for national defense.
ARTICLE III.—The Council of National Defense
Section 6
SEC. 6. There shall be a Council of National Defense which shall consist of the President, the Vice President, the head of each executive department, the Chief of Staff, and six other members to be designated by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments of the National Assembly, and a permanent secretary of the Council who shall be an officer of the Army. The Council shall advise with the President on all matters of national defense policy. It shall have a permanent staff which shall preserve a documentary record of the Council's deliberations.
Section 7
SEC. 7. The President of the Philippines shall be Chairman of the Council of National Defense.
Section 8
SEC. 8. The method of operation of the Council of National Defense, its detailed duties, and its rights to summon witnesses or consultants shall be fixed in executive orders to be issued by the President. Funds for its operation shall be provided in the appropriations for the Executive Department.
ARTICLE IV.—Territorial Organization
Section 9
SEC. 9. For the purpose of recruiting the national manpower, providing preparatory military training, executing the national mobilization plans, and supplying the needs of the armed forces in peace and war, the Philippines shall be divided into military districts which will be further subdivided into military provinces, as the President may direct.
Section 10
SEC. 10. In every military district a commissioned officer of the regular army shall be assigned as District Commander. He shall be provided with such assistants as the Chief of Staff may direct. In time of peace, he shall be responsible, under the Chief of Staff, for the training, discipline, and tactical training of all units within his district, and for the preparation of defense plans; and in time of war, he shall be responsible, under the control of the Chief of Staff, for the defense of his district.
Section 11
SEC. 11. In every military province, a commissioned officer of the regular army shall be assigned as Provincial Commander. He shall supervise, under the District Commander, the execution of all recruitment laws and the laws and regulations governing the mobilization of persons and resources for national defense within the province. This supervision shall apply to the activities of the civil authorities charged with these duties, and for the purposes of this supervision, he shall be a member of the Provincial Governor's Staff, and shall be provided with such assistants as the Chief of Staff may direct.
Section 12
SEC. 12. Recruiting areas will as far as possible conform with political subdivisions of the Philippines.
ARTICLE V.—Mobilization Centers
Section 13
SEC. 13. Mobilization centers shall be Located in municipalities, townships and municipal districts according to their military population and the percentage of such population assigned to units of the reserve. The Chief of Staff shall determine the location and type of mobilization centers to be provided, and the Provincial Commander shall be responsible for the operation of these mobilization centers at all times.
ARTICLE VI.—National and Partial Mobilization
Section 14
SEC. 14. A National Mobilization shall be decreed by the President of the Philippines on approval of the National Assembly.
Section 15
SEC. 15. Whenever the safety of the Philippines is endangered, the President may decree a Partial Mobilization. He shall promptly summon and report to the National Assembly the cause for, and extent of, the Partial Mobilization. The National Assembly shall determine whether or not the Partial Mobilization so decreed shall be annulled.
ARTICLE VII.—Technical Advisers
Section 16
Sec. 16. The President of the Philippines shall have authority to appoint and maintain such technical advisers from the Army of the United States and for such period of time as he may deem necessary, which shall in no case extend beyond his term of office.
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Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).