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The closing and partial obstruction of many streams in the Province of Pampanga, and their conversion into fishponds, have been a constant source of controversies and the cause of numerous complaints. Information is conflicting not only regarding the use to which these streams are dedicated but also regarding the right to the use of said streams by the persons actually using them. This condition of affairs has been responsible for much of the unrest in the Province of Pampanga.

For the purpose of determining the facts above-referred to, so that a definite policy may be adopted in connection therewith, a committee is hereby created to be composed of the respective representatives of the Secretary of Justice, the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, and the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, which committee shall forthwith investigate and report on the following:

(1) The status of all the rivers and streams in the Province of Pampanga, in order to determine whether they are of private or of public ownership;

(2) The claims of private parties to any of them, attaching to the report copies of the pertinent papers, documents, contracts, and a memorandum of the decisions of the competent courts or the laws applicable thereto;

(3) The value or importance of said rivers or streams for the conservation of the natural resources, indicating which of them are navigable, floatable or convenient for public use;

(4) The advisability of opening any of them, if closed, for river control purposes and for navigation or for fishing; and

(5) The necessity of adopting administrative measures or legislation to carry out the policy of keeping open such rivers and streams, whether of private or of public ownership, as may be necessary to promote and safeguard the public interest.

The Committee shall act under the direct supervision of the Secretary of Justice, through whom the report should be submitted to me, with his comments thereon.

Done in the City of Manila, Philippines, this eighteenth day of September, in the year of Our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, and of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the fourth.


By the President:

JORGE B. VARGAS
Secretary to the President