Preamble
WHEREAS, it is the policy of the State to maximize the country's foreign exchange earnings and conserve its foreign exchange resources; WHEREAS, in implementation of that policy, the Government has adopted various programs to encourage, promote, and assist the establishment of commercial activities and industries geared towards the production of goods and services, using indigenous raw materials and resources, which are intended not only for the export market but also as substitutes for essential goods and services imported into the country; WHEREAS, in line with that program, the Government has declared the establishment of a coco-chemical process plant in the Philippines as one of its major industrial projects and directed the bank acquired for the benefit of the coconut farmers of the Philippines under P.D. No. 755, acting as the Administrator of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund ("CIIF"), to cause, as it did, the organization of United Coconut Chemicals, Inc. ("UNICHEM"), a corporation owned and controlled by the coconut farmers which shall establish, operate and maintain in the Philippines a process plant for the manufacture of chemicals consisting initially of fatty acids, fatty alcohols and glycerine derived from coconut oil ("coco chemicals") ; WHEREAS, the coco-chemicals to be produced by UNICHEM are direct substitutes for chemicals derived from petroleum and natural gas ("petro-chemicals") which are utilized as raw material feedstock for the surfactant, the plasticizer, and other industries; WHEREAS, the surfactant industry in the country, principally manufacturers of soaps and detergents, presently utilize imported petro-chemicals at a substantial foreign exchange expenditure, which petro-chemicals, being non-biodegradable, pollute our lakes, rivers and other bodies of water; WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the State and for the public good that the Government encourage, promote and assist the substitution of coco-chemicals for petrochemicals in the manufacture of soaps, detergents and other consumer and industrial products: WHEREAS, the greater and wider use of coco-chemicals as a substitute for petro-chemicals will induce the shift of the usage of coconut oil from the edible market thereby minimizing, if not eliminating, the violent fluctuation of the price of coconut oil as it competes in the world market with other edible fats and oils; NOW, THEREFORE , I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS , President of the Republic of the Philippines, do hereby decree and order that: