Creation of the Commission on National Integration

June 22, 1957

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1888

AN ACT TO EFFECTUATE IN A MORE RAPID AND COMPLETE MANNER THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, MORAL AND POLITICAL AND ADVANCEMENT OF THE NON-CHRISTIAN FILIPINOS OR NATIONAL CULTURAL MINORITIES AND TO RENDER REAL, COMPLETE AND PERMANENT THE INTEGRATION OF ALL SAID NATIONAL CULTURAL MINORITIES INTO THE BODY POLITIC, CREATING THE COMMISSION ON NATIONAL INTEGRATION CHARGED WITH SAID FUNCTIONS

SECTION 1. It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress to foster, accelerate and accomplish by all adequate means and in a systematic, rapid and complete manner the moral, material, economic, social and political advancement of the Non-Christian Filipinos, hereinafter called National Cultural Minorities, and to render real, complete and permanent the integration of all the said National Cultural Minorities into the body politic.

SECTION 2. To effectuate the said policy and to achieve the aims and objectives of this Act, there is created a commission to be known as the Commission on National Integration, hereinafter called the Commission, which shall be composed of a Chairman and two other members. The Chairman of the Commission who shall also be known as the Commission on National Integration and the two other members who shall be known as the Associate Commissioners on National Integration or Associate Commissioners shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments and each of them shall be selected solely upon the basis of expert knowledge of the customs and social organizations of the said National Cultural Minorities and their economic, educational, religious, and political problems.

Whenever the word "Commission" is used in any part of this Act, it shall be held to mean also the Commissioner or Chairman of the Commission on National Integration.

The Commissioner on National Integration shall have the rank and pay of a Secretary of Department and shall be a member of the Cabinet. Each of the Associate Commissioners shall receive an annual compensation of seven thousand two hundred pesos.

There shall be in the Commission such employees as may be necessary who shall be appointed by the Chairman in accordance with the Civil Service Law and Rules.

SECTION 3. The Chairman of the Commission shall be the chief executive officer thereof and shall have the powers conferred generally on heads of Bureaus and Offices. He shall equitably distribute the work of the Commission among the Associate Commissioners and the other employees thereof and see that these perform their duties to the best of their abilities: Provided, however, That the Commission shall meet as a body for consultation in matters of special importance connected with its work, functions and aims. In such meetings, a majority of the members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

In case of the absence, for any reason, of the Chairman, the Associate Commissioner who is senior according to the date of his appointment, or whose commission has been issued first in case the commissions of two or more members bear the same date, shall act as Chairman of the Commission; and in case of the absence, for any reason, of both the Chairman and said Associate Commissioner with seniority of appointment, the President shall designate one of the remaining Associate Commissioners to have charge of the Commission as Acting Chairman .

SECTION 4. The Commission shall have the following powers, functions, and duties:

(a) To engage in industrial and agricultural enterprises and establish processing plants and cottage industries to lead communities of the National Cultural Minorities in engaging in such pursuits and, upon the attainment of this objective, to sell such enterprises or industries to them at cost. cd i

(b) To construct, operate and maintain irrigation systems and dams, power structures or generating plants, electric transmission and distribution lines or systems for the furnishing of electric light, heat and power to the inhabitants in the areas not receiving the service of such plants or systems.

(c) To cooperate with Government agricultural experiment stations or demonstration farms and agricultural supervisors in assisting farmers to acquire knowledge of modern farming or better methods of cultivation of farms.

(d) To effectuate the settlement of all landless members of the National Cultural Minorities by procuring homesteads for them or by resettling them in resettlement projects of the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration.

(e) To cause the establishment of more public schools in the regions inhabited by the National Cultural Minorities and encourage them to attend the same.

( f ) To initiate or cause the construction of feeder or farm roads in the rural areas.

(g) To promote community life among the said National Cultural Minorities by the establishment of civic centers, undertaking of civic activities, organization of athletic clubs, holding of agricultural and industrial fairs, dissemination of useful information by radio or otherwise on important local, national and international subjects.

(h) Subject to the approval of the President, to contract loan it deems necessary to achieve or carry out any of the purposes set forth in this Act from any credit institution owned or controlled by the Government for which purpose such institution is hereby authorized to grant such loan.

(i) To lease or own such real and personal property as it deem necessary and to sell or otherwise dispose of the same.

( j) To assist in the training of National Cultural Minorities in the different fields of education and to help them secure employment in private establishments or offices or in the Civil Service.

(k) To grant and promote scholarships locally or abroad for National Cultural Minorities. For this purpose, the activity and the appropriation in the Office of the President for such scholarships are transferred to the Commission.

(l) To aid National Cultural Minorities, municipal district governments and enhance their organization.

(m) In general, to further the agricultural, industrial and social development of the National Cultural Minorities and their progress in civilization.

SECTION 5. The Commission shall be the custodian and administrator and in charge of the disposition of public lands in the provinces and regions inhabited by the National Cultural Minorities reserved or which they hereafter be reserved by the President of the Philippines for settlement, townsites, roads, and the agricultural lands in said provinces and regions, which have been or may be surveyed and subdivided under Commonwealth Act Numbered Six hundred and ninety-one, as amended.

SECTION 6. With the approval of the proper Head of Department, the Commission may request the assistance of any officer or employee of any executive department, political subdivision, agency or corporation owned or controlled by the Government to enable the Commission the better to carry out its functions. If, in his opinion, the public interest or service so requires the President may detail any such officer or employee for duty with the said Commission and any individual so detailed shall be thereafter subject to the orders, rules, and regulations of the Commission.

SECTION 7. There is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of five million pesos for the following purposes:

(a) Three hundred thousand pesos shall be used by the Commission on National Cultural Minorities for the payment of salaries and wages of officers and employees, for the purchase of furniture and equipment and for sundry expenses of the Commission during the fiscal year in which said appropriation is made available by the Congress.

(b) One million pesos shall be used for furthering the social development of the National Cultural Minorities, aid to National Cultural Minorities municipal district governments, and for scholarships for National Cultural Minorities provided for in this Act, such scholarships to be distributed equitably: Provided, That one hundred fifty thousand pesos of said sum shall be used for such scholarships.

(c) One million pesos shall constitute a revolving fund to be known as the "Agricultural and Industrial Revolving Fund" for the establishment and operation of agricultural and industrial enterprises cottage industries, and warehouses or marketing agricultural and industrial products.

(d) One million pesos shall constitute a revolving fund to be known as the "Electric light, heat and power system fund" for the construction, maintenance, and operation of electric light, heat and power system for the purpose of generating and distributing electric light, heat, and power for sale in the rural communities. aisa dc

(e) One million and seven hundred thousand pesos shall constitute a revolving fund to be known as the "Farmers' Loan Revolving Fund" for granting loans to settlers, farmers and cooperatives in accordance with Republic Acts Numbered Eight hundred and twenty-one and Eleven hundred and sixty.

The net income of a project or enterprise financed by each revolving fund shall form part of the said fund and be available for investment as the original fund.

The sum of five million pesos shall be included annually, for a period of ten fiscal years beginning with the fiscal year 1957, in the General Appropriation Acts, which sum shall be equally shared by the above-mentioned revolving funds.

SECTION 8. No officer or employee of the Commission shall be permitted in any manner to acquire, directly or indirectly, any land within the land settlement projects of the Commission. Any such officer or employee who violates the provisions of this section shall immediately be removed by competent authority and said officer or employee shall be punished by a fine of not less than one thousand nor more than five thousand pesos. Should a dummy be used to violate the provisions of this section, the same penalty shall be applied to the dummy.

 

SECTION 9. No officer or employee of the Commission shall directly or indirectly be financially interested in any contract with the Commission. Any violation of this prohibition shall be punished by dismissal from office and by a fine of not more than five thousand pesos.

SECTION 10. No officer or employee of the Commission shall become a guarantor, indorser, or surety for loans from the said Commission under Republic Acts Numbered Eight hundred and twenty-one and Eleven hundred and sixty. Any such officer or employee who violates the provisions of this section shall be immediately removed by competent authority and said officer or employee shall be punished by a fine of not less than one thousand nor more than five thousand pesos.

SECTION 11. No fee, commission, gift, or charge of any kind shall be exacted, demanded, or paid, for obtaining loans from the Commission under Republic Acts Numbered Eight hundred and twenty-one and Eleven hundred and sixty, and any officer or employee of the Commission exacting, demanding, or receiving any fee for service in obtaining a loan, shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than three thousand pesos.

SECTION 12. Any justice of the peace, in his capacity as notary ex officio, shall render service free of charge to any person applying for a loan under Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred and twenty-one not exceeding five hundred pesos either in administering the oath or in the acknowledgment of instruments relating to such loan.

SECTION 13. Any register of deeds shall accept for registration, free of charge, any instrument relative to a loan made under said Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred and twenty-one and which does not exceed five hundred pesos.

SECTION 14. Any justice of the peace or register of deeds who shall demand or accept directly or indirectly any gift, fee, commission or other form of compensation in connection with the service required to be a performed by the said justice of the peace as provided in section thirteen and by the said registry official as provided in section fourteen of this Act, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand pesos.

SECTION 15. This Act shall take effect upon its approval. cd

Approved: June 22, 1957

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 53, No. 18, p. 6062 on September 30, 1957