Executive Order No. 175




MALACAÑAN PALACE MANILA BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES [ EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 175, September 16, 1948 ] DECLARING SUNKEN, BEACHED AND DAMAGED VESSELS AND OTHER CRAFT, INCLUDING CARGO, LYING IN PHILIPPINE WATERS AS A RESULT OF THE LAST WAR AND NOT YET REMOVED BY THEIR FORMER OWNERS AS ABANDONED IN FAVOR OF THE GOVERNMENT; AUTHORIZING THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY TO ENTER INTO CONTRACT WITH PRIVATE ENTITIES TO CLEAR PHILIPPINE WATERS OF SUCH SUNKEN, BEACHED OR DAMAGED VESSELS AND OTHER CRAFT, AND FOR THE DISPOSAL THEREOF AND THEIR CARGO OR SCRAP METAL SALVAGED WHEREAS, during the last war, vessels and other craft were sunk, beached or damaged in the territorial waters of the Philippines; WHEREAS, such sunken, beached or damaged vessels and craft have since been obstructing navigation, interfering with the free flow of interisland and foreign trade, and endangering human lives; WHEREAS, more than three years have elapsed since the termination of hostilities but the owners of said sunken, beached or damaged vessels and craft have not removed or taken any measures to salvage what may pertain to them; and WHEREAS, public interest and welfare require that immediate measures be taken by the Government to remove said vessels and craft as hazards to navigation and as a constant danger to life and property; NOW, THEREFORE, I, ELPIDIO QUIRINO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution and pursuant to the provisions of the Emergency Powers Law, do hereby declare that, the provisions of any existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, vessels and other craft, including their cargo, which have been sunk, beached or damaged and now lying in the territorial waters of the Philippines as a result of the last war and which, up to the present, have not been removed or claimed by their owners, have been abandoned by said owners in favor of the Government. The Secretary of Commerce and Industry is hereby authorized to enter into agreement with private entities for the removal and salvage of such sunken, beached or damaged vessels and craft together with cargo of whatever kind and to dispose of such sunken, beached or damaged vessels and craft, or the scrap metals or cargo of whatever kind salvaged therefrom, under such terms as he may deem convenient. Executive Order No. 58, dated June 9, 1947, is hereby amended insofar as it covers scrap metals under water. Done in the City of Manila, this 16th day of September, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and forty-eight, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the third. (SGD.) ELPIDIO QUIRINO President of the Philippines By the President: (SGD.) EMILIO ABELLO Executive Secretary The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation