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WHEREAS , the Philippine Government is committed to the implementation of the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and World Food Summit Plan of Action approved by the World Food Summit in Rome, Italy, 13 November 1996;

WHEREAS , together with the heads of States and other delegations to the World Food Summit, we pledged “our political will and our common and national commitment to achieve food security for x x x with an immediate view of reducing the number of undernourished people to half their present level not later than 2015”;

WHEREAS , the Rome Declaration on Food Security affirmed “the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food”;

WHEREAS , the Rome Declaration on Food Security reaffirmed that “a peaceful, stable and enabling political, social and economic environment is the essential foundation which will enable States to give adequate priority to food security and poverty eradication”;

WHEREAS , the objectives of food security can be met at least in part by the Social Reform Agenda which the government is already implementing, to achieve social equity through a substantive and peaceful process of change, by increasing people’s access to qualify basic services, access to economic opportunities and productive resources, as well as sustainable development of these resources and effective participation in economic and political governance;

WHEREAS , the objectives of food security can be effectively pursued by strengthening the complementation of the efforts and the mobilization of multi-sectoral participation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FIDEL V. RAMOS , President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested upon me by law, in order to fast-track the implementation of the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and World Food Summit Plan of Action through an Integrated Food Security and Sustainable Development Agenda, do hereby order the following:

SECTION 1. (a) An EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ON FOOD SECURITY is hereby created, to be chaired by the Secretary of Agriculture, with the Director General of the National Economic Development Authority, Head of the Presidential Management Staff, the Secretaries of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Director General of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority as well as representatives of farmers’ organizations and of non-government organizations as members.

(b) A TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP ON FOOD SECURITY is also hereby created to be composed of officials to be designated by the members of the Executive Committee on Food Security and representatives of the farmers’ organizations and of non-government organizations.

(c) The aforementioned Committee and Technical Working Group are hereby directed to: (1) exert all efforts to make the contents of the Rome Declaration on world Food Security and Plan of Action known and understood by all concerned; (2) to make the appropriate adjustments in the Rome Declaration and Plan of Action to suit Philippine situations, conditions and requirements; and (3) to design and implement the appropriate policies, programs and projects to put into effect a holistic and unified approach and plan of action for food security and sustainable development.

SEC. 2. All National Government Agencies and Local Government Units are hereby ordered to support through complementation of efforts the overall agenda on food security and sustainable development.

SEC. 3. This Executive Order shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 3rd day of December in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Six.

(SGD.) FIDEL V. RAMOS

By the President:

(SGD.) RUBEN D. TORRES
Executive Secretary