Executive Order No. 197




MALACAÑAN PALACE MANILA BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES [ EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 197, March 24, 1939 ] REVISING FURTHER EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 139, DATED JANUARY 14, 1938, CREATING A NATIONAL RELIEF ADMINISTRATION, AS REVISED BY EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 188, DATED FEBRUARY 23, 1939 For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of Commonwealth Acts Numbered Ninety and Two hundred and sixty-six, which state that the funds therein appropriated shall be expended through such official, office, entity, or agency as the President may designate, and with a view to achieving efficiency and economy by consolidating the different relief activities of the Government under one management and coordinating such Government relief activities with those being undertaken by private relief institutions, I, MANUEL L. QUEZON, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby create a National Relief Administration under the general supervision and control of a board herein designated as the National Relief Board, to be composed of the Secretary of the Interior as Chairman, the Secretary of Finance, and the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, as members. The Commissioner of the Budget shall be the Executive Officer of the Board. 1. The duties of the National Relief Administration shall be as follows: (a) To investigate the extent of the damages caused by typhoons, floods, fires, and other public calamities in the different provinces; and to determine the amounts of money needed for relief and rehabilitation work. (b) To coordinate the relief activities of the Government with those being undertaken by private relief institutions. (c) To serve as a coordinating agency for the placement in public works projects under the Department of Public Works and Communications and other branches, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Government of unemployed laborers who register in the Department of Labor. (d) To extend relief to the indigents who are physically incapacitated for work either directly or through the Bureau of Public Welfare or the charitable institutions under the latter’s supervision. (e) To take charge of all the funds appropriated under Commonwealth Acts Numbered Ninety and Two hundred and sixty-six and such other funds as may be appropriated or donated to or by the Government for relief or rehabilitation purposes, and, subject to the approval of the President, to make allotments out of said funds for the purposes of this Executive Order, directly or through such Government agencies or charitable institutions as it may designate. 2. The work of taking a census of the unemployed persons in the Philippines heretofore entrusted to the National Relief Administration shall hereafter be performed by the Department of Labor. The Secretary of Labor shall advise the proper Departments, Bureaus, Offices, subdivisions, agencies, or instrumentalities of the Commonwealth Government from time to time as to the unemployment situation in the different localities in the Philippines with a view to giving employment, as far as practicable, to those in need of aid in public works projects and other works carried out by any branch or agency of the Government. He shall further seek to enlist the cooperation of private employers in the distribution of employment in such manner as to provide the maximum amount of relief from unemployment. 3. The Bureau of Public Welfare shall take and keep a census of the indigents, who are physically incapacitated for work, in the Philippines and shall from time to time advise the National Relief Board of the necessary aid that should be extended to the said indigents. 4. The National Relief Board shall establish branches or agencies in the provinces, chartered cities, and municipalities with a view to carrying out within their respective jurisdiction the purposes for which the National Relief Administration is created. 5. Subject to the approval of the President, the National Relief Board is authorized to appoint such personnel as may be necessary for the proper functioning of the National Relief Administration. All expenses which may be incurred by the National Relief Administration to carry out the provisions of this Executive Order, including traveling and other incidental expenses of officers and employees rendering relief work, shall be a proper charge against the appropriations under its control. 6. All officers and employees of the National, provincial, city, and municipal governments, as well as those of the institutions receiving financial aid from the Government, are hereby enjoined to cooperate with the National Relief Administration in the performance of its functions and, with the approval of the corresponding Head of Department, shall, when necessary, render such service as the National Relief Board may assign to them. Done at the City of Manila, this twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, and of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the fourth.1a⍵⍴h!1 MANUEL L. QUEZON President of the Philippines By the President: JORGE B. VARGAS Secretary to the President The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation