[ LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 547, June 02, 1977 ]

TO:
The Secretary of Agrarian Reform
The Secretary of Agriculture
The Secretary of Local Government and Community
    Development
  The Secretary of Public Highways
The Secretary of Public Works, Transportation and
    Communications
  The Secretary of Health
The Secretary of Economic Planning
The Commissioner of the Budget
The President, Land Bank of the Philippines
The Administrator, National Irrigation Administration
The President, Food Terminal Incorporated

In line with the government policy of fully developing the quality of life in rural communities, several land settlement projects have been planned, and three projects are ready for implementation in Agusan del Sur, Bukidnon, and Capiz.  A loan to finance these three projects has been granted by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The successful implementation of these three projects depends upon very close coordination of efforts of the different agencies that are involved.  In order to ensure their success, there is hereby established the following machinery for implementation:
  1. An Inter-agency Project Coordinating Committee (IPCC) is hereby created to be composed of representatives from the following agencies:
     
    Department of Agrarian Reform
    Department of Agriculture
    Department of Local Government and Community
        Development
      Department of Public Highways
    Department of Public Works, Transportation and
        Communications
      Department of Health
    National Economic and Development Authority
    Budget Commission
    Land Bank of the Philippines
    National Irrigation Administration
    Food Terminal Incorporated
The representatives to the  Committee shall have the rank of at least Bureau Directors or equivalent.  The representative of the Department of Agrarian Reform shall act as Chairman of the Committee.

The IPCC shall have the following functions:
    a)
    to review and approve the annual work plan of the project;
    b)
    to review and recommend budgetary appropriations required to implement the project;
    c)
    to decide particular responsibilities of participating agencies and to resolve inter-agency differences and difficulties arising from the implementation of the project; and
    d)
    such other functions as may be required for the successful implementation of the project.
  1. Direct management of the project shall be undertaken by a Central Project Management Unit  (CPMU), which the Secretary of Agrarian Reform shall organize with personnel of the participating agencies, and such additional personnel as may be required.  In addition, participating agencies shall make available and assign to the three settlement areas in Agusan del Sur, Bukidnon, and Capiz, such trained personnel as may be required by the project, who shall, during the period of assignment, be under the administrative control and supervision of the Department of Agrarian Reform, but with technical supervision provided by their parent agencies. The CPMU shall have the following functions:
    a)
    to supervise the implementation of the project in the three settlement areas;
    b)
    to prepare an annual work and financial plan for the project;
    c)
    to evaluate the budgetary appropriations required. in the implementation of participating agency portions of the project;
    d)
    to submit from time to time, to the IPCC, reports on the progress of implementation of the project; and
    e)
    such other functions as the Secretary of Agrarian Reform may assign.
  2. The participating agencies shall incorporate in their annual budgets the programs or projects needed to support the Land Settlement project, as agreed in the deliberations of the Inter-agency Project Coordinating-Committee.
  3. The payment of allowances honoraria to various committee members and agency personnel assigned to the project out of project funds is hereby authorized, subject to government accounting and auditing regulations.
Done in the City of Manila this 2nd day of June in the year of our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-seven.

(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President of the Philippines