WHEREAS, the Calamity Fund Act of 1972 restricts the use of the funds provided therein to relief and rehabilitation activities in the wake of the floods in Central Luzon, Manila and environs, and failed to take account of the effects of the same calamity in the provinces of Laguna and Rizal and in the Bicol Provinces, as well as of the effects of the widespread drought in Visayas and Mindanao;
WHEREAS, the same Act does not provide for a judicious disposition of proceeds and/or residuals from the various uses to which said Fund was applied, including proceeds from sales of purchased commodities, amortizations and repayments on loans extended, and did not consider that such proceeds if used as revolving funds, could be multiplied to finally cover the full requirements of relief and rehabilitation activities;
WHEREAS, the restriction in Section 2(c) of said Act to 5% of the amount appropriated or the total released at any one time, for payment of personal services, administrative and other operation expenses, did not consider the labor-intensive nature of relief and rehabilitation activities.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972, and General Order No. 1, dated September 22, 1972, as amended, in order to effect the desired changes and reforms in the social, economic and political structure of the country, do hereby order and decree that the Calamity Fund Act of 1972 shall be amended, as it is hereby amended, to provide, as it is hereby provided, the provisions of said Act to the contrary notwithstanding, as follows:
1. That the Funds provided under the said Act may be spent for relief and rehabilitation activities in the provinces of Laguna and Rizal and in calamity-stricken Bicol provinces, as well as in provinces affected by drought;
2. That the proceeds and/or residuals from the various applications of the said funds be reverted to Revolving Funds to be spent, upon approval by the appropriate Department Secretary or agency head, for similar or other relief and rehabilitation activities needed to be further undertaken; and finally
3. That the aforestated restriction of not more than 5% for personal services, administrative and other operational expenses shall not apply in the case of the said funds.
Done in the City of Manila, this 14th day of October, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-two.
(SGD.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President of the Philippines
By the President:
(SGD.) ALEJANDRO MELCHOR
Executive Secretary