Preamble
WHEREAS, Republic Act 917, otherwise known as the Philippine Highway Act of 1953, was previously amended by Presidential Decree Nos. 17 and 130, for the purpose of providing road maintenance funds for national, provincial, city and municipal roads; WHEREAS, the sums set aside for the Contingent Fund and the Discretionary Fund from the Highway Special Fund as provided in the existing law are inadequate to effectively carry out the purposes for which they arc intended; WHEREAS, there is need to increase the Contingent and Discretionary portions of the Highway Special Fund to effectively carry out the purpose of the law; WHEREAS, the present provisions of this Act have fixed a realistic requirement for maintenance funds for provinces, cities and municipalities and a national aid share based on their capacity to partly shoulder the cost of maintenance work in accordance with the amounts accruing to their road and bridge funds; WHEREAS, after the approval of this amendment, there was enacted Presidential Decree No. 144 which revised the distribution of income derived from taxes to the local governments and which affected the available road and bridge funds of provinces, cities and municipalities; and WHEREAS, in view of this new development, it is necessary to revise the national aid share that should lie provided to provinces, cities and municipalities from the maintenance funds to conform with the changes in the amounts accruing to their road and bridge funds as a result of the implementation of Presidential Decree No. 144; 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 promulgate this Decree as part of the law of the land.