TO:	All Local Executives, Governors, Mayors and Engineers

WHEREAS, one of the problems of urbanized areas which have a prejudicial national impact is the indiscriminate conversion of good agricultural land into industrial, recreational, residential and/or non-agricultural areas, resulting in national loss in food production, one of the principal economic objectives of our country.

WHEREAS, there are other lands that are not agricultural that can be utilized for such industrial, recreational, residential or non-agricultural purposes.

Therefore, for the national welfare, I order that no construction for residential, industrial or non-agricultural purposes on agricultural land shall be given permit or license unless proper clearance has been given by the Department of Human Settlements and Environmental Management.

Done in the City of Manila, this 22nd day of June, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-eight.