WHEREAS, Section 1066 of the Revised Administrative Code, which vested in the Secretary of Health administrative control, including authority to make, promulgate and enforce in and for said reservation and in or upon the waters thereof such rules and regulations consistent with law as may be necessary for the efficient control, protection, and management of the Culion Leper Colony, was repealed by virtue of Section 2 of Republic Act No. 4073;

WHEREAS, such repeal has resulted in the loss by the Department of Health of its jurisdiction over the Culion Reservation and concomitantly in the indiscriminate issuance of permits for the cutting, gathering and removing of bakawan and nipa leaves, as well as, for fishing by outsiders, with the consequent depletion of these natural resources which heretofore have been properly conserved and intended for the exclusive use and welfare of the leprosy patients in the Colony; and

WHEREAS, it is imperative that immediate appropriate measures be taken so that such resources could be properly administered, conserved and utilized for the efficient operations of the Culion Sanitarium and thereby facilitate the implementation of projects for the socioeconomic rehabilitation of leprosy patients and ex-patients;

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, and General Order No. 1, dated September 22, 1972, do hereby order and decree that:

Section 2 of Republic Act No. 4073, otherwise known as "An Act Further Liberalizing the Treatment of Leprosy by Amending and Repealing Certain Sections of the Revised Administrative Code," is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sections one thousand sixty to one thousand seventy-one, inclusive, of the same Code, as amended, are hereby repealed, except Section one thousand sixty-six: Provided, however, That the administrative control over the Culion reservation, including the lands, waters, forest and forest products within the reservation, shall be exercised by the Secretary of Health through the Chief of the Culion Sanitarium." This Decree shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 30th day of January, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-four.