Preamble
WHEREAS, it is a primary objective of the Government to conserve, revitalize and develop the country's national wealth and manage its utilization for the continued well-being of present and future generations; WHEREAS, progressively increasing demands for food, agricultural raw materials, mineral, aquatic, and forest products, are being felt throughout the world and predicted to intensify in the immediate future: WHEREAS, within the Philippines itself, the demands of a growing population exert tremendous pressure on the country's existing food and natural resources; WHEREAS, in the light of growing domestic and world demands for basic commodities, there is a pressing need to continuously assess the status of all existing food and natural resources of the Philippines with the view to maximizing their utilization, programming their exploitation and, whenever possible, providing for their replacement; WHEREAS, the development of agriculture and the management of natural resources involve two separate broad and complex programs which are presently being planned and implemented by only one organization; and WHEREAS, the attainment as soon as possible of the national goal of increased production and self-sufficiency in basic foods and the completion of an up-dated inventory and assessment of the nation's natural resources for the purpose of ensuring conservation, optimal utilization, programmed exploitation and replacement whenever possible can best be achieved if these objectives are prosecuted by two separate departments. NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby adopt this amendment to Chapter I, Part VIII of the Integrated Reorganization Plan as part of the law of the land.