Section 17
SECTION 17. Abolition of Existing Agencies - The Commission on National Integration created under RA 1888, the Mindanao Development Authority created under RA 3034, the Presidential Task Force for the Reconstruction and Development of Mindanao created under Executive Order No. 411 and the Special Program of Assistance for the Rehabilitation of Evacuees (SPARE) created under Letter of Instruction No. 30, are hereby abolished. All their appropriations, assets and liabilities as of the date of this Decree are hereby transferred to the Administration to be effected within a period of one hundred twenty (120) days after the constitution of the Board of Directors: Provided that all the qualified civil service employees of the Commission on National Integration, the Mindanao Development Authority, the Presidential Task Force for the Reconstruction and Development of Mindanao and the Special Program of Assistance for the Rehabilitation of Evacuees (SPARE) shall be given preference in filling up open positions in the Administration. All outstanding contracts of the Commission on National Integration, the Mindanao Development Authority, the Presidential Task Force for the Reconstruction and Development of Mindanao, and the Special Program of Assistance for the Rehabilitation of Evacuees (SPARE), with other agencies and/or instrumentalities of the government or those with private entities are assumed by the Administration except, that in the case of the Commission on National Integration, all the latter's functions pertaining to the National Cultural Communities located in Luzon and Visayas under the provisions of RA 1888, as amended, shall be undertaken, by the Department of Agrarian Reform, and for this purpose the Department of Agrarian Reform shall establish a division for the National Cultural Communities.