Creation of Recovery Committee to Recover Illegally Filled-Up Waterways in Greater Manila ( Letter of Instructions No. 376 )

March 1, 1976

LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 376

WHEREAS, the problem of flood control and drainage in Greater Manila has become a problem of gravely disturbing proportions;

WHEREAS, this problem is caused by several factors, chief among them being the illegal issuance of titles to filled-up rivers, creeks, esteros, drainage channels and other similar waterways where improvements have been constructed, such as houses and buildings, thus clogging water flow and precipitating floods and obstructing drainage;

WHEREAS, it is imperative that these problems should be solved immediately in order to protect the health and sanitation of the residents of Greater Manila and in order to facilitate transaction of public and private services in the area;

Accordingly, I hereby give the following instructions:

1. A Recovery Committee is hereby created in order to discharge the function of recovering rivers, creeks, esteros, drainage channels and other similar waterways in Greater Manila which have been illegally filled up. The Committee shall immediately identify the rivers, creeks, esteros, drainage channels and other similar waterways extant in Greater Manila at the time of the initiation of cadastral proceedings, and which at present have been filled up and illegally titled. Thereafter, the Committee shall institute proceedings to recover such rivers, creeks, esteros, drainage channels and other similar waterways utilizing for this purpose, among others, Presidential Decree No. 296 of 18 September 1973.

2. The Recovery Committee shall be composed of the Secretary of Justice as Chairman, and of the Secretary of Public Works, the Solicitor General, the Land Registration Commissioner, and the Director of Lands as members. cd

3. The Recovery Committee shall be empowered to avail of the services of any government office or agency as shall be necessary to enable the Committee to discharge its functions effectively and expeditiously.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 1st day of March, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Six.