Presidential Decree No. 936 (PD 936) — Establishing the National Crop Protection Center Within the College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines at Los Baños, and Seven Regional Crop Protection Centers Within the Bureau of Plant Industry.
WHEREAS, the government is pursuing an intensified food
production program to ensure an adequate food supply and higher
standards of living for our people and to sustain the socio-economic
growth of the country;
WHEREAS, crop protection is vital to the success of the
government's intensified food production programs;
WHEREAS, food and commercial crop losses due to pests amount
to hundreds of millions of pesos annually;
WHEREAS, the country has many tropical crops with potential
for expanded production and export if proper crop protection is
practiced to meet the stringent quarantine and pesticide residue
requirements of importing countries;
WHEREAS, the country's pest control research efforts are
largely uncoordinated and not made readily available to our farmers;
WHEREAS, there is no systematic effort exerted toward
meeting the total pest control needs of the country, and there is
therefore need to institutionalize, the research and field extension
forces in pest control work into an integrated, nationwide crop
protection network;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the
Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the
Constitution, do hereby decree and order the following:
SECTION 1. There is hereby established a National Crop
Protection Center, hereinafter referred to as the Center, in the College
of Agriculture, University of the Philippines at Los Baños, with the
following specific functions:
To undertake problem analyses, development research
and planning required to develop crop protect ion systems against
pest of major economic crops.
To develop and implement manpower training programs de
signed to upgrade the pool of manpower required to meet
the complex pest control needs of the country.
To undertake information exchange and extension to provide
farmers and the public with coordinated information about
the varied facets of pest control and to emphasize the urgent need for
safe and effective pest control practices.
To establish adequate linkage between research and operational
phasis at the farm level in order to ensure that the changing
research needs of operational activities are met and that operational
activities are base on the most recent and applicable
research findings.
To provide scientific advice to government planners for
the formulation of policies and regulatory programs
necessary for dealing with the complex pest control
technologies essential for the protection of crops.
There is also hereby initially established seven regional crop
protection centers of the Bureau of Plant Industry which will serve the
research, extension and protection needs of the geographic areas they
encompass. The functions of the regional crop centers shall be the same
as those of the Center as enumerated hereinabove, except that the
emphasis shall be on applied research in the region as well as actual
protection and field extension work. The locations of the initial
regional centers ere as follows: 1) Dingras, Ilocos Norte; 2) Muñoz,
Nueva Ecija; 3) Pili, Camarines Sur; 4) Palo, Leyte; 5) Iloilo City; 6)
Malaybalay, Bukidnon; and 7) Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. Additional
regional crop protection centers may be established hereafter, as may be
required from time to time, by the Center, in consultation with the
Advisory Board and with the concurrence of the Bureau of Plant
Industry.
SEC. 2. The Center shall be headed by a Director who shall
be appointed by the Board of Regents of the University of the
Philippines System upon the joint recommendation by the Advisory Board
of the Center and the Chancellor of the U.P. at Los Baños. The Director
shall be directly responsible to the Dean of the UPLB College of
Agriculture. He shall exercise authority and be responsible for the
Center's overall operations.
SEC. 3. The research plans and priorities of the Center
shall be subject to annual review by an Advisory Board to assure proper
direction and relevance of programs and activities in relation to
national requirements. The Advisory Board shall be composed of:
The Secretary of Agriculture as Chairman
The Dean, UPLB College of Agriculture
The Executive Director, National Food and Agriculture
Council
The Director, Bureau of Plant Industry
The Assistant for Research, UP at Los Baños
The Director, Crops Research Division, PCARR
A Representative of the Pesticide Industry
A Representative of the farming sector
The Executive Director of the Philippine Pesticide Board
The industry and private sector representatives shall be appointed
by the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and they shall serve
for a term of three years.
SEC. 4. The Center may, in the pursuit of its mandate,
enlist the services of any and all scientists and technical personnel of
any agency or instrumentality of the Philippine government
knowledgeable in pest control work and such scientists and technical
personnel may be paid honoraria by the Center.
SEC. 5. The Center is hereby authorized to undertake
construction of buildings and other facilities and to purchase local or
imported equipment and supplies as may be necessary to carry out its
functions. Further, the Center shall be exempted from taxes, and other
duties for equipment, supplies and materials purchased abroad when not
available locally on favorable terms.
SEC. 6. Expenditures and disbursements made by the Center
in the conduct of its activities shall be, subject to special auditing
rules and regulations suited to the requirements of research. These
special auditing rules and regulations shall be formulated by the
Commission on Audit and the Center within three months after approval of
this Decree.
SEC. 7. The Center is also hereby authorized to negotiate
loans for capital expenditures and staff development and or to solicit
donations and/or contributions from organizations or individuals, local
or foreign, private or public, for its operations.
SEC. 8. The amount of P3 million is hereby appropriated
to the University of the Philippines at Los Baños for Calendar year
1977. This amount or more shall be included in the annual budget of the
Department of Agriculture thereafter to support the operation of the
Center at Los Baños. The incremental budgetary needs of the Bureau of
Plant Industry for the regional crop protection centers shall be
provided in the national budget by way of the normal annual budget
process.
SEC. 9. All acts, parts of acts, executive orders,
ordinances rules and regulations which are inconsistent with the
provisions of this Presidential Decree are hereby repealed,
amended or modified accordingly.
SEC. 10. This Decree shall take effect
immediately
Done in the City of Manila, this 19th day of May in the year of
our Lord nineteen hundred and seventy-six.
(Sgd.)
FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President
Republic of the Philippines
By the President:
(Sgd.)
JUAN C. TUVERA
Presidential Assistant
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
