Allowing Growing, Buying and Selling of Cigar Filler (or Native) Tobacco in Certain Provinces

April 19, 1976

LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 396

WHEREAS, Philippine Tobacco Board Regulation No. 2-75 implementing Presidential Decree No. 628 prohibits, among others, the growing, buying and selling of cigar filler (or native) tobacco in area zonified for other types of tobacco;

WHEREAS, there are farmers in certain pocket areas in the Ilocos Region and Central Luzon who, because of tradition and the unsuitability of their lands for the growing of the tobacco type prescribed under Presidential Decree No. 628, have planted cigar filler (native) tobacco for Crop 1976 despite the said Decree; cdt

WHEREAS, there are an estimated 6,154 farmers who have planted 3,077 hectares with an estimated production of 2,055,550 kilos valued at P6,166,650 and who are now threatened with economic ruin and dislocation unless relief is provided them;

WHEREAS, it is the primordial aim of the government under the New Society to promote the economic well-being of the citizens, especially the tillers of the soil.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby order as follows:

1. The Philippine Tobacco Board to suspend for Crop Year 1976 the implementation of Sections 6(a) and 8(b) of Philippine Tobacco Board Regulation No. 2-75 implementing Presidential Decree No. 628 in the case of cigar filler (native tobacco grown in Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra, La Union, and Pangasinan, thereby allowing the affected tobacco farmers to sell and all buyers to buy their produce.

2. The Philippine Tobacco Administration to undertake if warranted by market conditions, trading operations for price stabilization purposes in said tobacco type in the areas in question.

3. The Philippine Virginia Tobacco Administration and other agencies concerned to intensify the current information drive being undertaken among the farmers in these areas aimed at achieving at the earliest possible time the objectives of Presidential Decree No. 628. acd

DONE in the City of Manila, this 19th day of April, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Six.