[ PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 257, July 31, 1973 ]

CREATING THE PEFTOK INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION DEFINING ITS POWERS AND FUNCTIONS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

WHEREAS, the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea ((PEFTOK) veterans having gloriously fought in the battlefields of that country on the side of the free world and having contributed to the preservation of democratic institutions in this part of the globe, would not want to render at naught the role and sacrifice they made at the cost of the lives of many of their comrades-in-arms;

WHEREAS, the officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines include PEFTOK veterans, and more than any other body of government personnel they have been called upon to carry and are now carrying a great share of the great burden of suppressing the activities of men actively engaged in a criminal conspiracy to seize political and state power in the Philippines, and the burden of eradicating widespread lawlessness, anarchy, disorder and wanton destruction of lives and property now prevailing throughout the country;

WHEREAS, one of the objectives of the proclamation of martial law is to effect economic reforms to enhance the atmosphere of foreign and local investments, and in the process, create jobs for the country's unemployed; and

WHEREAS, the PEFTOK veterans, through their PEFTOK Veterans Association, have signified their desire to render service to the New Society not only in the preservation of peace and order but also in the economic uplift of the Filipino people in general and their fellow PEFTOK veterans in particular;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, by virtue of the powers vested in me 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, as amended, do hereby create a corporation to be known as the PEFTOK Investment and Development Corporation, hereinafter referred to as the Corporation. Its principal domicile and place of business shall be in Quezon City, Philippines, or at such other place as the Board of Directors may determine.

SECTION 1. The Corporation shall be a body corporate and shall be subject to the provisions of the Corporation Law insofar as they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Decree, or with the provisions of this Decree, or with the purpose for which this Corporation is formed, and shall have the general powers mentioned in said law, and such other powers as may be necessary to enable it to accomplish its purposes.

In particular, the Corporation, shall among others be vested with the following powers:

1. To create, generate, develop, improve, promote, and enhance any and all kinds of investment opportunities or fields of investment whether now in being or not and whether new or old; and for the purpose, the Corporation shall invest in, purchase, acquire, hold, use, sell, lease, assign, transfer, alienate, dispose or encumber real and personal property of every kind and description, including shares of stock, bonds, debentures, notes, evidence of indebtedness, and other securities and interests in property, and shall exercise all rights, powers and privileges connected with on incident to the ownership, possession, interest in, and use of such real and personal properties; and may undertake, organize, form, promote, develop, or establish businesses and all forms of enterprise, whether here or abroad, as are necessary, suitable, or convenient to be undertaken, organized, formed, promoted, developed or established to carry out, directly or indirectly, the purposes and interests or to enhance the businesses or to render more valuable or profitable any of the rights, properties, interests or enterprises of this Corporation;
2. To promote and develop agriculture in the Philippines and turn to account the resources of land and rights therein, to carry on and conduct an agricultural enterprise by means of planting, cultivating, constructing, raising, purchasing, processing, threshing, milling, and selling any and all plants, trees, fish, livestock, crops and other products of the soil; to engage in the production and manufacture of any kind of materials and substances which may be of use or convenience for utilization of agricultural products; to buy, sell, import, export, or in any manner trade in same, and to carry on studies and experiments in the cultivation, manufacturing and marketing of such products, in connection therewith;
3. To manufacture, buy, sell, and in all ways deal in, and with respect to articles, goods, wares, merchandise and commodities of all kinds and descriptions, to engage in and conduct, in all branches and details, the business of manufacturing and trading;
4. To enter into and perform contracts, undertakings and obligations of every kind and character;
5. To acquire and/or lease lands from the Philippine Government for agricultural, pastural and related purposes in excess of the areas allowed to private corporations, associations by existing laws which may prove beneficial both to the Corporation and the Government;
6. To borrow money and to incur indebtedness, without limit as to the amount, and in excess of the capital stock of the Corporation and to issue bonds, debentures, debenture stock, warrants, notes or other obligations therefor, and to secure the same by any lien, charge, grant, pledge, deed of trust or mortgage of the whole or any part of the real and/or personal property of the Corporation then owned and/or thereafter to be acquired, and/or to issue bonds, debentures, without any such security;
7. To grant loans to stockholders for the purpose of enabling said stockholders in joining cooperative associations which are owned or controlled by PEFTOK veterans: Provided, That the amount of such loans shall not exceed fifty percent (50%) of the par value of the stocks actually owned by said stockholders: Provided, further, That such loan shall be payable in full within a period of not exceeding one year;
8. To engage in and carry on the business of general wholesale and retail merchants, importers, exporters, commission merchants, brokers, factors, agents, manufacturers, processors, dealing in or with any and all classes of materials, merchandise, supplies and commodities of every kind and nature;
9. To carry on any other lawful business whatsoever which may seem to the Corporation capable of being carried on in connection with the foregoing purposes and powers, or calculated directly or indirectly to promote the interest of the Corporation or to enhance the value of its property, and to have, enjoy and exercise all the rights, powers and privileges which are now or which may hereafter be conferred upon similar corporations organized under the laws of the Republic of the Philippines;
10. To exercise the general powers mentioned in the Corporation Law, insofar as they are not inconsistent or incompatible with the provisions of this Decree.

SEC. 2. The Corporation shall be governed and its activity shall be directed, controlled and managed by a Board of Directors which shall be composed of the Secretary of National Defense, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the President of the PEFTOK Veterans Association, Incorporated and six (6) other persons who shall be designated by the President of the Philippines from a list of qualified PEFTOK veterans. The six (6) persons so designated shall serve and act as Directors from the date hereof until their successors are elected and qualified as provided for in the by-laws of the Corporation.

SEC. 3. The capital stock of the PEFTOK Corporation shall be four million pesos (P4,000,000.00) divided into four hundred thousand (400,000) common shares with a par value of ten pesos (P10.00) each.

At least fifty-one percent (51%) of the capital stock of the PEFTOK Corporation shall be fully subscribed by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines for and in behalf of the PEFTOK veterans and the amount of two million one hundred ninety-eight thousand and three hundred sixty pesos (P2,198,360.00) shall be initially paid and transferred to said Corporation out of the PEFTOK- savings under RA 573: Provided, That within three years from the date of the proclamation of this Decree all shares of capital stock subscribed and held by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines for and in behalf of the PEFTOK veterans shall be transferred to and in the name of PEFTOK veterans who shall thereafter vote said common shares. A PEFTOK veteran, his widow, or legitimate children shall only be entitled to three common shares: Provided, further, That after three years from the date of the proclamation of this Decree, the Board of Directors of said Corporation shall from time to time determine the number of unsubscribed capital stock which shall be available for subscription by PEFTOK veterans.

The sale or transfer of common shares to a party not a PEFTOK veteran shall not be allowed under any circumstance. Any share may be sold or transferred to the Corporation which shall issue the same to stockholders who are veterans: Provided, That no PEFTOK veteran shall be issued a total of more than one hundred shares.

SEC. 4. As defined in this Decree, a PEFTOK veteran is any officer or enlisted man of Armed Forces of the Philippines, active, inactive, or honorably separated from the service, who served with any unit of the Philippines Expeditionary Force to Korea (PEFTOK) as duly certified to by the Adjutant General of the Armed Forces of the Philippines: Provided, that for purposes of this Decree, the term "PEFTOK veteran" or "veterans" shall include the widow and legitimate children of the deceased veteran.

SEC. 5. The Corporation shall contribute the amount of five percent (5%) of its net profit to the assistance fund administered by the Philippine Veterans Assistance Commission created by Presidential Decree No. 244, dated July 12, 1973.

SEC. 6. The legal existence of the Corporation under this Decree shall be for a period of fifty (50) years from and after the promulgation of this Decree.

SEC. 7. This Decree shall take effect upon its approval.

Done in the City of Manila, this 31st day of July, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-three.

			(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS President Republic of the Philippines
	By the President:
	(Sgd.) ALEJANDRO MELCHOR
		Assistant Executive Secretary