Establishment of a Complimentary Corps of Coordinating Officers for Program Execution (COPE) ( Letter of Instructions No. 36-B )

November 27, 1972

LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 36-B

 

Concomitant with the organization of a corps of Presidential Regional Officers for Development (PROD) pursuant to Letter of Instructions No. 36 and 36-A, there is hereby established a complementary corps of Coordinating Officers for Program Execution (COPE) who shall assist the President in effecting, on a national scale, the speedy and coordinated implementation of major programs of reform particularly those included in the "PLEDGES" of Government.

The following officials and agencies are hereby designated Coordinating Officers for Program Execution (COPE) and Action Agency, respectively, for each of the Major Programs indicated below:

Program	COPE	Action Agency
Peace and Order:
Law and Order	The Chief, PC	DND
Administration of	Mr. Paciencio Magtibay,	Dept. of Justice
Justice	POCC
Public Information	The Chief, OCR, GHQ, AFP	DPI
Land Reform	Mr. Jose Medina, Jr., DAR	DAR
Economic Development:
Price Stabilization	Mr. Roberto Abling, DMS	PCC
Agriculture	Mr. Roberto Fronda, DANR/	DANR
Exploration and Survey	NFAC
Operations	Mr. Luis Mirasol, Jr., DMS	DANR
Infrastructure	Mr. Carlos Leaño, DPWTC/	DPWTC
	IOC
Foreign-Assisted	Mr. Ruben Ancheta, PES	NEDA
Projects
Industry	Mr. Arnulfo Ramirez, DMS	BOI
Trade and Tourism	Mr. Cesar Templo, OP	DTT
Government Financial
and Fiscal Operations	Mr. Victor Macalingcag, DF	Dept. of Finance
Cooperatives	Mr. Cayetano Sarmago, DMS	DLGCD
Power Development	Mr. Arthur Alvendia, DMS	NPC
Rural Electrification	Mr. Roberto de Ocampo, NEA	NEA
Provincial and Community
Development	Mr. Gregorio Vigilar, PDAP	DLGCD
Development of Moral
Values thru Educational
Reforms	Mr. Felix Santos, DE	Dept. of
		Education
Government
Reorganization	Mr. Abelardo Samonte, CR	Reorg.
		Commission
Employment and
Manpower
Development	Mr. Romy Diaz, NMYC	Dept. of Labor
Social Services:
Health	Dr. Jesus Almonte, DH	Dept. of Health
Welfare	Mr. Abraham Campo, PES	DSW
Housing and
Resettlement	Mr. Jaime Venago, PAHRA	PAHRA
Family Planning	Mr. Conrado Lorenzo,	Population
	Pop Com	Commission

Except for the Chief PC, whose terms of reference shall be prescribed separately by me thru the Secretary of National Defense, the duties and responsibilities of the Coordinating Officers for Program Execution designated herein shall be governed by the general policy guidelines outlined in the Letter of Instructions No. 36 as well as by the following specific terms of reference: casia

1. Each COPE shall be under the direct supervision of the Head of the Action Agency designated for his Program, provided such Agency Head is of Cabinet rank. Otherwise, he shall be under the direct supervision of the Executive Secretary. The Cabinet shall serve as the coordinating body for all operational activities of the COPEs.

2. Each COPE shall, on a continuing basis, monitor the conduct and/or progress of all projects and activities that fall directly under, or are indirectly related to, the national program assigned to him; identify major problem areas and their causes; and institute or recommend the necessary corrective measures to the Action Agency concerned.

a. The COPE is hereby empowered to cut across normal decision-making channels to secure the coordinating action/decisions required, which he shall subsequently cause to be speedily effected throughout the total system of program execution.

b. In no case shall the COPE establish himself as a separate or distinct layer of authority thru which decisions affecting program implementation must pass.

3. The COPE shall completely familiarize himself with all the projects and activities that fall directly under, or are indirectly related, the national program assigned to him. He shall check and ensure that the policy guidelines and program of implementation established at the national level are transmitted, understood, and complied with throughout the total system of program execution.

4. The COPE shall establish a close working relationship with key officials of the various local, regional, and national government agencies who are involved, directly or indirectly, in his program of responsibility. In problem areas where interagency or inter-regional coordination is a crucial factor, he is hereby empowered to call upon such officials/agencies to constitute, on an ad hoc basis, Action Coordinating Teams (ACT) as may be necessary to expedite over-all program implementation.

5. Directives by the COPE shall be made in the name of the Action Agency Head concerned, in writing, in a standard quick disposition form (to be prescribed) that can be readily issued and acknowledged on the spot. All such directives shall be recorded in a log book which the COPE shall maintain for ready reference, follow-up, and periodic review by the Action Agency Head concerned, as well as by the Cabinet. acd

Whereas the primary concern of the PROD designated under Letter of Instructions No. 36-A is the speedy and coordinated implementation of all priority programs on a regional basis, the primary concern of the COPE designated herein shall be the speedy and coordinated implementation of each priority program on a national scale. Likewise, whereas the PROD shall primarily be output-oriented in his approach to problems at the execution level, the COPE shall primarily be input-oriented in his approach to such problems.

There is therefore an inherent necessity, as it is hereby made a mandatory requirement, that a closed-knit operational interlink be established between and among each and every COPE and PROD. The following common and complementary terms of reference are hereby prescribed to avoid overlapping or conflicting actions.

1. In no case should either a COPE or a PROD institute or recommend corrective action without first having verified whether an identified problem area/bottleneck has already been acted upon.

2. In all cases, a COPE or a PROD shall immediately advise all officials concerned, particularly the Action Agency Head concerned, of any action taken on problem areas within his sphere of responsibility.

The terms of reference prescribed for the Executive Secretary in Letter of Instructions No. 36-A relative to the establishment of the operational system for the PROD are hereby made applicable to the COPE. The Executive Secretary shall accordingly amend the tasks assigned to the Development Management Staff to include the compilation of Program Manuals containing a complete and up-to-date inventory of all projects and activities that fall directly under, or are indirectly related to, each of the Major Programs comprising the "PLEDGES" of Government.

The duties and responsibilities attendant to the designations made herein shall be concurrent and additional to the regular duties and responsibilities of COPEs in their respective organic assignments. The Cabinet, thru the Executive Secretary, shall continuously monitor their workload and performance and shall submit to the President recommendations for changes in COPE-designates when the situation so warrants.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 27th day of November, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Two.