WHEREAS, it is the policy of the State under the New Society to protect, promote and develop the welfare of rural workers;

WHEREAS, rural workers especially the landless, belong to the forgotten species of the labor force which have not been sufficiently covered by the industrial benefit package and agricultural support mechanisms espoused by government agencies;

WHEREAS, rural workers urgently need special assistance to raise their capability for self-development and to link them up vitally with the mainstream of progress and growth; and

WHEREAS, it is essential to establish an Office designed especially for such purposes;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby order and decree:

SECTION 1. There is hereby created in the Department of Labor a Rural Workers Office, hereinafter referred to as the "Office", which shall be under the direct supervision and control of the Secretary of Labor and shall be headed by an Executive Director assisted by a Deputy Executive Director.

SEC. 2. The Executive Director and the Deputy Executive Director shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines upon recommendation of the Secretary of Labor.

SEC. 3. The Office shall have the following powers and functions:

1. To exercise general supervision and control over the social amelioration program in the sugar industry and all such programs as may be established under the succeeding paragraph;
2. To determine and recommend social amelioration programs for the rural workers; which programs shall include the amount of fees and charges, the mode of collection and disposition, subject to the approval by the President;
3. To initiate, undertake, arrange or authorize research projects to identify and study socio-economic problems of rural workers and propose solution thereto;
4. To process and evaluate proposed socio-economic projects for rural workers under the social amelioration program, for approval by the Secretary of Labor;
5. To supervise, regulate and audit implementation of approved socio-economic projects for rural workers and their families and to monitor the progress of these projects;
6. To engage in income and employment generating projects provided that they are geared towards rural workers' organization and training for self-reliance and self-development;
7. To enter into agreements for the development of rural employment, provisions of skills and placement facilities for rural workers in coordination with appropriate institutions including international agencies;
8. To provide special assistance for the organization of rural workers into unions, cooperatives and other appropriate forms of organizations;
9. To register, regulate and maintain exclusive control and supervision over rural workers cooperatives and unions under the social amelioration program;
10. To assist misplaced, unassimilated and unemployed rural workers and their families in the urban areas by helping equip them with skills for urban employment or for returning to the countryside;
11. To assist, in coordination with other government agencies, in the enforcement of policies and programs designed to protect and promote the welfare of rural workers, including improvement of their working conditions;
12. To receive donations, grants and other forms of assistance from domestic and international sources, and enter into agreements with such agencies for the carrying out of the foregoing functions; and
13. To exercise such other functions as may be assigned by the Secretary of Labor.

SEC. 4. The Secretary of Labor shall establish offices in the regions and such other extension offices as may be deemed appropriate.

SEC. 5. The technical staff and other personnel of the Office shall be appointed by the Secretary of Labor upon recommendation of the Executive Director; Provided, That civil service eligibility requirements and OCPC positions and salary schedules shall not apply to personnel and positions of the Office declared highly technical.

SEC. 6. There shall be constituted a Special Project Fund (SPF) in the name of the Secretary of Labor which shall come from the P0.10 per picul of sugar produced as originally decreed by Presidential Decree 788 and all fees and charges levied and collected by the Office in accordance with the social amelioration program as provided for in Section 3 par. (b) of this Decree. The Special Project Fund shall be used to finance socio-economic projects for the benefit of the rural workers. When deemed appropriate, a portion of the Special Project Fund as determined by the Secretary of Labor maybe set aside for lending purposes to qualified rural workers borrowers. The Commission on Audit is hereby authorized to audit periodically the expenditure charged against the Fund.

SEC. 7. The Office shall adopt an annual budget of expenditures for its personnel services, maintenance and other operating expenses and capital outlay which is hereby authorized to be appropriated out of any funds in the National Treasury that are not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. 8. The Secretary of Labor shall issue rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this Decree.

SEC. 9. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 1st day of May, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-eight.

			(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS President of the Philippines
	By the President:
	(Sgd.) JUAN C. TUVERA
		Presidential Assistant