Preservation and Protection of Gains and Investments of the Government in Its Mindoro Soybean Seedfarm

May 20, 1981

LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 1130

WHEREAS, in the face of an increasing unfavorable projection on World Food Supply, particularly in Asia, which could effect the quantity, cost and nutritive quality of food available to our people, the government launched in 1977 and Soybean Development Program, with the primary objective of growing and producing in the Philippines soybeans in commercial quantities;

WHEREAS, to attain this objective, the government, as an initial step, immediately set up Experimental Plots in the Mindoro Agro Forest Development Project Reservation to determine and identify the highest yielding varieties of soybeans on a per hectare basis that can be suitable for growth, production and dispersal throughout the Philippines;

WHEREAS, the Experimental Plots planted to soybeans in the Mindoro Seedbank Farm yielded actual encouraging and favorable results that made the production of soybeans in commercial quantities throughout the Philippines not only viable but a necessity, considering its unlimited potentials as an economical meat alternate and extender, with high nutritional value; cdt

WHEREAS, the President, cognizant of the specialized technology required for the Soybean Project and the importance of a systematic, methodical and sustained effort in order to insure the success and speedy implementation of the Project, issued Executive Order No. 617 on August 21, 1980 transferring the supervision, direction, administration and control of all Soybean Seedbank Projects to the National Development Company, with instructions to tap the private sector possessing the technology, expertise and capability to manage this particular Seedbank Project as expeditiously as possible;

WHEREAS, the Soybean Seed Production undertaken in the Mindoro Soybean Seed Farm forms a vital component activity of the National Soybean Development Program created under L.O.I. 747 which also covers Seed Research and Breeding, Seed Dispersal Agricultural Extension, Credit and Financing, Marketing and Transport and Warehousing; aisa dc

WHEREAS, pending the final completion of the Soybean Master Plan, which is now in its final stages of preparation, there is vital need to preserve and protect the gains already attained in the Mindoro Soybean Seed Farm and the expenditures so far incurred by the government since 1977 when it launched the National Soybean Development Program;

WHEREAS, under this Integrated Soybean Master Plan, the projected commercial soybean production schedule is based on continuous production of foundation and registered seeds out of the initial stock of seeds produced from the Mindoro Soybean Seed Farm, in order not to setback the time-table for the production of soybeans in commercial quantities throughout the Philippines;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law and the Constitution, do hereby issue the following instructions:

1. The National Development Company shall keep and store in proper facilities the two hundred fifty (250) cavans of foundation seeds now on stock at the Mindoro Soybean Seed Farm.

2. The National Development Company shall have all available and viable breeder and foundation seeds, including but not limited to the 250 cavans of foundation seeds now on stock immediately planted in the Mindoro Pilot Soybean Seed Farm not later than the month of May, 1981.

3. To effect the planting of this existing stock of seeds, the National Development Company shall prepare the required land, mobilize needed personnel and equipment, acquire necessary production inputs, construct essential infrastructures, provide adequate post-harvest seed storage facilities and release the necessary funds for the purpose out of the funds already transferred to it from the Ministry of Natural Resources specifically for this Project.

4. The National Development Company shall take such other measures to safeguard existing investments in all soybean seedbanks and produce the amount of seeds required at each stage under the National Soybean Development program.

5. The National Development Company shall solicit the assistance of the Ministry of Natural Resources and its technical staff to insure the successful continuous compliance of this directive.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 20th day of May, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-One.