[ PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 278, August 24, 1973 ]

INSTITUTING A NATIONAL REFERENCE CARD SYSTEM AND CREATING THEREFOR THE NATIONAL REGISTRATION COORDINATING COMMITTEE.

WHEREAS, there is a pressing need for the Government to establish a system of positive identification of all Filipino citizens and foreign nationals in the Philippines, a system essential to insuring national security and affording convenience in the transaction of official business with Government and private offices and agencies;

WHEREAS, the various identification systems currently in existence are generally agency-oriented, specific in purpose and non-complementary; and

WHEREAS, among the objectives of such a National Reference Card System would be the replacement of all existing identification systems currently prescribed by government agencies to afford convenience to the general public;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972, Proclamation No. 1104, dated January 1 7, 1973, and General Order No. 1, dated September 22, 1972, in order to achieve the aforestated objectives, do hereby decree that:

1. All citizens of the Republic of the Philippines shall be assigned a Reference Number and issued a National Reference Card in a manner prescribed by the National Registration Coordinating Committee;
2. Citizens or nationals of foreign countries resident in the Philippines shall likewise be assigned a Reference Number and issued a National Reference Card in the manner prescribed by the National Registration Coordinating Committee;
3. The National Reference Card shall serve as the official identification of the person to whom it is issued;
4. The penalty of imprisonment from five to ten years shall be imposed upon any offender found guilty of any of the following acts or omissions:
   
   
   
   1. The willful submission of or causing to be submitted a fictitious name and other false data in the application form for a National Reference Card by any person;
   2. The unauthorized printing, preparation or issuance of a National Reference Card by any person;
   3. Willful falsification, mutilation, alteration of or tampering with a National Reference Card by any person;
   4. The use or unauthorized possession of a National Reference Card by any person other than the one to whom it was issued or the possession of a fake, falsified or altered National Reference Card; and
   5. Willful failure to apply for and secure National Reference Card as prescribed by the National Registration Coordinating Committee.
      
      
5. There is hereby created a National Registration Coordinating Committee composed of the following or their respective representatives:
   
   

   The Secretary Department of Local Governments and Community Development	Chairman
   The Secretary Department of National Defense	Co-Chairman
   The Secretary Department of Education and Culture	Member
   The Chairman Commission on Elections	Member
   The Director Bureau of the Census and Statistics	Member
   The Commissioner Bureau of Internal Revenue	Member
   The Commissioner Commission on Immigration and Deportation	Member
   The Managing Director National Computer Center	Member

   
   
6. The National Registration Coordinating Committee is hereby designated and authorized to prescribe rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this Decree.
7. Repealing Clause. — All laws, executive orders, rules or regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with this Decree are hereby repealed and/or modified accordingly.

Done in the City of Manila, this 24th day of August, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-three.

			(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS President Republic of the Philippines
	By the President:
	(Sgd.) ROBERTO V. REYES
		Assistant Executive Secretary