Preamble
WHEREAS, Tetraethyl (TEL) is an additive to gasoline used to reduce or prevent engine knock in gasoline-fed vehicles by increasing octane number and, as an imported item, requires annual expenditures of approximately two hundred million pesos; WHEREAS, it has been established that TEL is a poisonous compound of lead that, when expelled from the exhaust pipes of motor vehicles as particulates and inhaled, is readily absorbed into the body leading to lead poisoning and various illnesses and, settling quickly out of the air, it contaminates the soil resulting in increased danger to health; WHEREAS, scientific investigations have conclusively shown that lead pollution in the Philippines is serious and that the adverse consequences of lead intoxication attributable to TEL in gasoline is grievous, thus increasing concern in the Philippines about the detrimental effects of free lead in the atmosphere; WHEREAS, medical investigations in the Philippines have shown that in the urban areas Filipino children have been exposed to lead poisoning beyond tolerable medical limits; WHEREAS, it is imperative for the Philippines to adopt a national program designed to arrest the dangers posed by TEL nationwide; WHEREAS, various chemical compounds can be used for blending with gasoline to reduce and/or eliminate TEL in gasoline without posing dangers to health and at the same time improve octane ratings, among which substitutes is ethanol which is the only one that can be produced locally in sufficient quantity and -quality, indicating that ethanol is the best choice in the Philippines to replace TEL as a gasoline additive; WHEREAS, technical studies have shown that ethanol may be produced efficiently from sugar cane and in existing sugar districts so that, considering the plight of the sugar industry which resulted from the depressed world prices of sugar, the early implementation of an ethanol program will produce an additional benefit of providing a new market for the local sugar industry; 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 order and decree: