Preamble
WHEREAS, man and his community require the fulfillment of the following basic needs and requirements such as water, power, food, clothing, shelter, medical services, education, sports and recreation, economic base (livelihood), mobility and ecological balance embodied in a humanistic ideology for the realization of a New Society; WHEREAS, it is the national policy to attain the fruits of social and economic development in our communities within the integrative framework of human settlements; WHEREAS, it is imperative that our development activities promote and enhance a wholesome relationship between human beings and their civic and physical environment; WHEREAS, while the government has already addressed the problems of rural poverty and stagnation by adopting and implementing a massive countryside development program, a proper development perspective requires equal concern for the management of urban development; WHEREAS, it is necessary to organize the government's policies and programs along these new areas of concern by establishing an appropriate department and delineating its relationships with the various agencies involved with its functions; WHEREAS, it is also national policy to promote innovative land development and community development controls as a technology for building communities and estates in new areas, or renewing communities in depressed or blighted areas; and WHEREAS, the physical planning, development and management of new communities and estates, or of old communities and blighted areas can best be accomplished through the creation and operation of an adequate corporate arm for the new Department. 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 the following as part of the law of the land: SECTION l. Declaration of Policy.—It is hereby declared to be the policy of the government to foster the growth and renewal of our communities, both rural and urban, in an integrative manner that promotes optimum land use, adequate shelter, environmental protection, utilization of appropriate technology and rational inter-dependence amongst self-reliant communities, all these towards the fullest development of man as a civic person and as a human being, involving in this process the coordinated contribution of the public and private sectors.