WHEREAS, in pursuance of the policy to promote efficiency in the public service, there is a need to provide for a position of Vice-Chairman in the Board of Governors of the Development Bank of the Philippines to preside over the meetings of the Board in the absence or temporary incapacity of the Chairman of the Board;

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

SECTION 1. Section fourteen of Republic Act Numbered Eighty-five, as amended by Republic Act Numbered Three Thousand Five Hundred Seventeen, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 14. Board of Governors. — The affairs and business of the Corporation shall be directed, its powers exercised, and its property managed and preserved by a Board of Governors consisting of the chairman and eight other members to be appointed by the President of the Philippines. The Chairman and four members of the Board to be designated by the President shall render full-time service to the Corporation. The term of office of the Chairman and other members of the Board shall be seven years, except that of the first members which shall be one, two, three, four, five, six and seven years and which shall be specified in their respective appointments. The compensation of the Chairman and other members of the Board of Governors shall be fixed by the President of the Philippines, who may remove any of them for cause.

"The President may designate as Vice-Chairman one of the eight members of the Board who shall preside over the meetings of the Board in the absence or temporary incapacity of the Chairman.

"No person shall be appointed Chairman or member of the Board of Governors unless he be of good moral character and unquestionable integrity and be of recognized competence in economics, agriculture, industry, finance and/or banking."

SEC. 2. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 27th day of March, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-four.