Preamble
WHEREAS, I have declared in various decrees, letters of instructions and other orders, as well as in my speeches and other oral pronouncements that the land reform program is an urgent and vital social and economic reform under the New Society; WHEREAS, the determination of the Government to implement the program has been demonstrated by various acts, including the revitalization of agencies implementing the program such as the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Land Bank, and the channeling of a major portion of government resources to the program, as well as the promulgation of decrees, letters of instructions and other orders designed to hasten the implementation of the program and the protection of the tenants; WHEREAS, notwithstanding all the foregoing, there remains a strong resistance to the program on the part of some of our citizen, including government officials and this has been made evident by direct acts such as the ejection of tenant-farmers notwithstanding the prohibition against ejectment of tenant-farmers under Presidential Decree No. 316, and some subtle schemes intended to obstruct the progress of the program or to keep the tenants in perpetual bondage under a feudalistic system of landownership; WHEREAS, these acts or schemes against a vital program of the New Society cannot be allowed, and will not be allowed, to remain unpunished or without sanction from the Government. NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution, do hereby decree and order: