WHEREAS, on the basis of preliminary and initial reports from the field as gathered from barangays (citizens assemblies) that have so far been established, the people would like to decide for themselves questions or issues both local and national, affecting their day-to-day lives and their future;
WHEREAS, the barangays (citizens assemblies) would like: themselves to be the vehicle for expressing the views of the people on important national issues;
WHEREAS, such barangays (citizens assemblies) desire that they be given legal status and due recognition as constituting the genuine, legitimate and valid expression of the popular will; and
WHEREAS, the people would like the citizens assemblies to conduct immediately a referendum on certain specified questions such as the ratification of the new Constitution, continuance of martial law, the convening of Congress on January 22, 1973, and the elections in November 1973 pursuant to the 1935 Constitution.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines, do hereby declare as part of the law of the land the following:
Done in the City of Manila, this 5th day of January, in the year of Our Lord,
nineteen hundred seventy-three.
(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President
Republic of the Philippines
By the President: (Sgd.) ALEJANDRO MELCHOR Executive Secretary