Preamble
WHEREAS, notwithstanding my earlier instructions that no tenant-farmer shall be ejected from the land cultivated by him, many landowners are ejecting or threatening to eject their tenants; WHEREAS, numerous complaints for ejectment have been filed in the courts by landowners against their tenants and orders have been issued enjoining or restraining the latter from entering and cultivating their farmholdings or impounding their harvest; and likewise, numerous criminal cases have been filed by landowners against tenant-tillers which arise from the possession and cultivation of farmholdings and other agrarian causes, as a result of which tenant-farmers have been arrested and detained; WHEREAS, the aforementioned acts have resulted in strained relations between landowners and tenant-farmers or tillers of the soil which threaten to disturb the peace and order conditions in the rural areas; and WHEREAS, these ejectment suits or other acts of harassment by landowners intended to eject or remove their tenants cannot be sanctioned or condoned by the Government, especially in the light of our current efforts to bring forth a New Society — a Filipino society that is more compassionate and that adheres to the basic principle of social justice; NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972, and General Order No. 1, dated September 22, 1972, as amended, do hereby order and decree, as part of the law of the land the following: