WHEREAS, the Constitution mandates that the State shall promote social justice to ensure the dignity, welfare and security of all the people, and that it shall establish, maintain and ensure adequate social services to guarantee the enjoyment by the people of a decent standard of living;
WHEREAS, it is the government's concern to uplift the living conditions of our people in order to develop their maximum capacities to become dignified and self-respecting members of society;
WHEREAS, the goals and objectives of the New Society require innovative social service schemes and strategies to enable the most disadvantaged to be self-reliant and independent, so that he can participate in national development, an attempt to solve a Filipino problem the Filipino way; and
WHEREAS, changing "Department of Social Welfare" to "Department of Social Services and Development" will give the Department the more accurate institutional id entity in keeping with its productivity and developmental thrust;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby order and decree: