Preamble
WHEREAS, it is the policy of the state to carry out a concerted attack on the problems of mass poverty, unemployment, underemployment, and social justice; WHEREAS, to provide the proper perspectives to such problems, there is a need for greater emphasis on the integrated area development of the countryside; WHEREAS, integrated area development must be undertaken to marshall cooperative activity towards the creation of a just and humane society; WHEREAS, integrated area development must seek its roots in a people working in commission with each other; WHEREAS, there is an urgent and compelling need to develop among government planners and decision makers a common policy orientation that can serve as a guide for the formulation of programs and projects geared towards integrated area development; WHEREAS, the task of development calls for a shift from the traditional broad and piecemeal approach to a systematic and coordinated implementation of projects aimed at the countryside; WHEREAS, it now becomes essential that these activities and projects in the countryside be properly integrated, priorities be established, and a central planning and implementing body charged with the development of an integrated plan of action for integrated rural development be created; 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: