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WHEREAS, rice and corn are the basic food of our people, and any sudden or unwarranted increase in their prices affects the prices of all other basic commodities and services.

WHEREAS, the people have expressed the mandate that the prices of rice and corn be stabilized at a level that is within the reach of the masses of our people while at the same time affording our farmers, growers, and producers a fair and just return for their labor and capital investment sufficient to induce them to engage in a more intensified and .scientific production;

WHEREAS, existing agencies charged with the duty of stabilizing the price of rice and corn and preventing scarcities due to seasonal or artifical causes have proven themselves to be in adequate to discharging properly their duty;

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution and laws of the land, I, Diosdado Macapagal, President of the Philippines, do hereby declare that the Government of the Republic shall, in order to stabilize the price of palay and corn, engage in the purchase of these basic foods from farmers, growers, and producers at a price that will afford them a fair and just return for their labor and capital investments and induce them to a more intensive and scientific production, and whenever circumstances brought about by any cause, natural or artifical, should so require, shall sell and dispose of these commodities to the consumers at areas of consumption at a price that is within their easy reach, regardless of whether that sale price be below cost of acquisition.

To implement and execute this program, there is hereby created a committee, to be known as the Presidential Rice and Corn Committee, in whom is hereby vested all powers rights, and authority sanctioned by law to achieve the success of this vital program, including, but not limited to, the following:

1. To fix and announce, from time to time, the price at which the government shall purchase and procure palay, rice, and corn from farmers and producers and their cooperatives, which price shall be such as to afford them a fair and just return for their labor and capital investments and maintain decent standards of living;

2. To fix and announce, from time to time, regardless of whether any particular operation may result in a loss, the price at which the palay, rice, and corn thus acquired shall be sold by the Government to the consuming public at areas of consumption, provided that the price fixed shall be within easy reach of the masses of our people;

3. To designate any government agency, office, corporation, or other instrumentality now existing or which may hereafter be created as the agent or agents to make purchases of these commodities for the Government, and to determine and regulate the manner in which the purchase shall be made, the place, where the commodities so purchased shall be stored, and the means by which said purchases shall be financed;

4. To designate any government agency, office, corporation, or other instrumentality now existing or which may hereafter be created as the selling agent of the commodities purchased, and to determine, regulate, and fix the distribution and sale of the said commodity;

5. To coordinate, supervise, direct, and control the activities of all existing governmental agencies and to coordinate with private entities engaged in the production, procurement, and distribution of rice, corn, and palay to provide incentives to farmers, growers, and producers;

6. To exercise such other powers and to issue such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out these purposes or effectively implement and execute the rice and corn program hereby adopted.

The Committee shall be composed of a chairman and two members to be designated by the President, may draw such personnel, equipment, supplies, and other facilities necessary for its operation from the Office of the President or from any department, office, bureau, or any other instrumentality of the government.

Done in the City of Manila, this 25th day of January, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the sixteenth.

(Sgd.) DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL
President of the Philippines

By the President:
(Sgd.) AMELITO R. MUTUC
Executive Secretary