[ Memorandum Order No. 49, July 1, 1963 ]
PRESCRIBING CERTAIN PROCEDURES GOVERNING THE FLOW AND HANDLING OF CORRESPONDENCE IN THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT.
In order to institute an effective control of correspondence, avoid loss of papers, and eliminate unnecessary delay in their disposition, this Memorandum Order is hereby promulgated for the information, guidance and compliance by those concerned.
1. There are generally three main media by which correspondence are received, namely: by mail, by telegram or radiogram, and by personal delivery.
2. According to nature, correspondence are classified into official and personal. Official correspondence are those the subject matter of which pertain, concern or have any connection or bearing with the functions of the office. Personal correspondence are those the subject matter of which refers to the private or personal affairs of the addressee. The nature of closed correspondence may be determined preliminary from the envelopes, thus: correspondence contained in official government envelopes and the dressed officially (name of incumbent official not mentioned) are classified as official; whereas, correspondence contained in private envelopes and personally addressed (with mention of the incumbent official) are classified as private or personal. Notwithstanding the kind of envelope and the manner of address, the real nature, whether official or personal, of correspondence shall be finally determined by its contents. A letter contained in a private envelope and personally addressed shall be reclassified as official if the contents thereof are official in character and, conversely, a letter contained in an official envelope and officially ad-e dressed shall be reclassified as personal if its con tents have no bearing with the functions of the s office. As thus finally classified, correspondence shall be routed in accordance with the procedure outlined in this Order.
3. The following rules shall govern the routing and distribution of correspondence:
a. All correspondence, including telegrams and radiograms, addressed personally to the President, whether in private or government envelopes, shall be opened by the Private Secretary to the President. Those addressed personally to the Executive Secretary shall be opened by his Private Secretary. All personal letters, telegrams and radiograms addressed to the Assistant Executive Secretaries shall be sent directly to them. Those which, after opening, are found to be official in nature shall be sent to the Records Division for assignment to the proper action units.
b. All official correspondence addressed to the President, the Executive Secretary, and the Assistant Executive Secretaries shall be opened by the Records Division which shall assign them to the proper divisions or units. Those which, after opening, are found to be personal or private in character shall be sent directly to the addressees.
c. All correspondence left with the President by callers on Senator’s Day, Congressman’s Day, Governor’s Day, Businessman’s Day, or any other similar days, shall be gathered by the Aide on duty who shall hand them over to Mrs. Maria Lagleva or Mrs. Concepcion Cruz who, in turn, upon consultation with Secretary Cancio, shall assign the same to the proper divisions or units for action.
d. All correspondence telegrams and radiograms received in the Aides Office during and after office hours shall be coursed through the Executive Secretary, except those which in the discretion of the Aide on duty require immediate action, after consultation if necessary and possibly with the Executive Secretary or any of the Assistant Executive Secretaries.
e. Those addressed to the President marked “Personal,” “Confidential” or “Secret” shall, irrespective of the real nature of the correspondence, be sent directly to the Private Secretary to the President; those so marked addressed to the Executive Secretary shall be silent directly to his Private Secretary; others with such marks shall be sent directly to the addressees.
4. There shall be a separate rubber stamp in the President’s private study to be used in stamping the date and time of receipt of correspondence personally delivered to him. Similarly, all divisions and other primary units shall have their own rubber stamps to indicate the date and time of c receipt of correspondence in their respective divisions or units.
5. The following rules shall be followed in the handling of correspondence, action on which is being taken:
a. Correspondence which are usually acknowledged by telegram under existing arrangement shall be so acknowledged in the name of the Executive Secretary, and shall be prepared for his signature if the nature of the case requires his personal attention, otherwise they may be prepared for the signature of the Private Secretary to the President, any of the Assistant Executive Secretaries, or any duly authorized chief of division or primary unit, as the case may be.
b. Upon receipt of correspondence, the action units shall prepare the necessary action and send the correspondence with the draft of action to the official authorized to sign the prepared action in accordance with existing office regulations, as follows: action prepared for the signature of the President shall be coursed through the Executive Secretary; those prepared for the signature of the Executive Secretary shall be coursed through the Staff Secretary; and those prepared for the signature of the Assistant Executive Secretaries shall be sent directly to them.
c. In cases where a correspondence, the action on which according to existing rules is to be signed by the Executive Secretary, has to be cleared with the President, the action unit or the Staff Secretariat shall prepare a memorandum for the President for the signature of the Executive Secretary.
6. All correspondence with duly signed action shall be released only through the Records Division. Important and policy-making or precedent-setting actions may, at the discretion of the signing official, be returned to the units which prepared the action for their information and guidance, but the same shall nevertheless be released through the Records Division. No correspondence shall be released personally to interested parties, except recommendations or letters to be handcarried by the bearers, as well as confidential and other matters that the Executive Secretary or any Assistant Executive Secretaries may otherwise authorize to be so released.
7. Classified papers.—Generally, all official papers shall be treated as confidential in the sense that they may not be handled or perused by outside parties prior to their release to persons duly authorized to receive personal delivery of said papers. Among official correspondence, however, there are some which even employees in the Office of the President are not supposed to handle or read except those expressly so authorized. Such papers are those involving secret and confidential matters, which shall henceforth be so classified.
Correspondence may be classified as secret by the President, the Executive Secretary, or the Assistant Executive Secretaries; classification of papers as confidential may, in addition to the President, the Executive Secretary, and the Assist ant Executive Secretaries, be made by the chief of the action unit with respect to papers being handled in said unit.
The following rules shall be observed in the handling of secret and confidential matters:
a. Correspondence classified as confidential shall be stamped “CONFIDENTIAL” in hold, conspicuous letters on the top page thereof; in addition, such correspondence shall be placed under a cover-sheet similarly stamped with the word “CONFIDENTIAL,” also in bold letters, below the “Office of the President” letterhead, and underneath it shall be printed and following injunction:
“To be handled only by authorized persons in accordance with Memorandum Order No. 49 dated September 3, 1936, violation of which is administratively punishable.” The cover-sheet shall also indicate the official where the paper is coming from, through whom it is to be coursed, if any, and to whom it is destined.
b. Correspondence classified as secret shall be marked and placed under a cover-sheet in the same manner as indicated in the next preceding sub-paragraph, except that the word “CONFIDENTIAL” shall be substituted by the world “SECRET.” Furthermore, in addition to the cover-sheet, papers classified as secret shall be placed inside a jacket (large envelope) which shall also bear on both sides thereof the stamp “SECRET” shall be carried inside the jacket.
c. Secret and confidential correspondence shall not be carried by or entrusted to anybody, including employees in the Office of the President, except those who may be so authorized by the President, the Executive Secretary, the Assistant Executive Secretaries, or the chief of the action unit concerned, and always inside a jacket and/or placed under a cover-sheet described above, as the case may be.
d. Confidential correspondence for release shall, except as may be directed otherwise, be sent directly to the Chief or the Assistant Chief of the Records Division or, in their absence, to the next ranking assistant in said division, who shall personally release the same.1aшphi1 The records thereof shall be kept in a separate file for the purpose which shall at all times be under lock and key.
e. Secret correspondence shall be released only by those who may be entrusted therewith by the President, the Executive Secretary or the Assistant Executive Secretaries; it shall be placed in a closed envelope with sealing wax stamped with a special office mail seal and delivered by trusted hand to its destination. The records of such secret papers, if desired to be kept in the Records Division, shall be sent to the said division, in a duly sealed “Secret” jacket, in like manner that the original thereof was released and shall be kept in a separate cabinet reserved for the purpose also under lock and key.
8. The flow of correspondence as outlined above is graphically depicted in Appendix No. 1 hereof
9. This Memorandum Order takes effect as of July 1, 1963, and amends accordingly Memorandum Order No. 1 dated January 7, 1958 entitled “Covering the Organization of the Executive Office and General Matters of Procedure Therein.”
