Amendment to Section 1 of Commonwealth Act No. 600

June 6, 1941

COMMONWEALTH ACT NO. 620

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION ONE OF COMMONWEALTH ACT NUMBERED SIX HUNDRED

SECTION 1. Section one of Commonwealth Act Numbered Six hundred is amended so as to read as follows:

"SECTION 1. The existence of war in many parts of the world has created a national emergency which makes it necessary to invest the President of the Philippines with extraordinary powers in order to safeguard the integrity of the Philippines and to insure the tranquility of its inhabitants, by suppressing espionage, lawlessness, and all subversive activities, by preventing or relieving unemployment, by insuring to the people adequate shelter and clothing and sufficient food supply, and by providing means for the speedy evacuation of the civilian population, the establishment of an air protective service, and the organization of volunteer guard units, and to adopt such other measures as he may deem necessary for the interest of the public. To carry out this policy the President is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations which shall have the force and effect of law until the date of adjournment of the next regular session of the First Congress of the Philippines, unless sooner amended or repealed by the Congress of the Philippines. Such rules and regulations may embrace the following objects: (1) to suppress espionage and other subversive activities; (2) to require all able-bodied citizens (a) when not engaged in any lawful occupation, to engage in farming or other productive activities or (b) to perform such services as may be necessary in the public interest; (3) to take over farm lands in order to prevent failure or shortage of crops and avert hunger and destitution; (4) to take over industrial establishments in order to insure adequate production, controlling wages and profits therein; (5) to prohibit lockouts and strikes whenever necessary to prevent the unwarranted suspension of work in productive enterprises or in the interest of national security; (6) to regulate the normal hours of work for wage-earning and salaried employees in industrial or business undertakings of all kinds; (7) to insure an even distribution of labor among the productive enterprises; (8) to commandeer ships and other means of transportation in order to maintain, as much as possible, adequate and continued transportation facilities; (9) to requisition and take over any public service or enterprise for use or operation by the Government; (10) to regulate rents and the prices of articles or commodities of prime necessity, both imported and locally produced or manufactured; and (11) to prevent, locally or generally, scarcity, monopolization, hoarding, injurious speculations, and private controls affecting the supply, distribution, and movement of foods, clothing, fuel, fertilizers, chemicals, building materials, implements, machinery, and equipment required in agriculture and industry, with power to requisition these commodities subject to the payment of just compensation."

SECTION 2. This Act shall take effect upon its approval. HDCTAc

Approved, June 6, 1941.