TO:     SUBJECT: Accelerating the Development of the Isabel, Leyte Industrial Site

WHEREAS, it is the declared policy of the Government to enhance and enhance and encourage  the diversification of industries;

WHEREAS, the government, in its effort to diversify industries, has established and developed the geothermal project at Tongonan, Ormoc City, in order to hasten regional development, specially of depressed areas of the country;

WHEREAS, it  is necessary to integrate the economic and industrial development plan for the Eastern Visayan region by establishing, therein an industrial estate where power-intensive industries may be set up and avail of the  indigenous power from the  Tongonan geothermal plant;

WHEREAS, the government has  decided to set up the copper smelter, phosphatic  fertilizer, and aluminum smelter plants in the  industrial  estate so as to encourage and invite industrial, commercial, agricultural, and mining ventures  into the  industrial  zone;

WHEREAS, in order to implement and hasten the  establishment of the  aforementioned projects in the province of Leyte, and to promote the eventual economic, social, and political development and industrialization of the region;

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

SECTION 1.  There  is hereby established in the  town  of Isabel, province of Leyte, the Leyte Industrial Estate here-inafter referred to  as  Industrial Estate.   It shall comprise those areas in  tho  vicinity of Isabel  and such other additional areas which the Government of the province  of Leyte, in consultation with the Ministry of  Industry,  may determine.

SEC. 2. The  Leyte  Sab-A Basin Development Authority, hereinafter referred to  as the Authority,  which was created under Presidential Decree 625, shall have overall responsibility for the  development of the Industrial Estate, and for that  purpose,  the Authority shall exercise  its powers  and  functions  and the Industrial  Estate shall enjoy the privileges  and benefits granted under said Decree.

SEC. 3. The  Bureau  of Lands,  Bureau of Forestry,  Bureau of Fisheries  and Aquatic  Resources, and the Bureau of Mines shall  immediately turn over and transfer to the Authority all public  and mining lands  arid forests within the industrial estate,   including  foreshore  areas required by the  Industrial Estate.

SEC. 4. The Authority is hereby empowered and instructed to acquire  privately-owned lands  circumscribed in the Industrial Estate by way of negotiated sales with the landowners.   The  acquisition  cost of raw or uncultivated lands shall be P5,000.00 per hectare  or P0.50 per square meter.  In addition  to  the cost of the land,  the Authority shall pay the landowners P25.00  for each fruit-bearing coconut tree, and, in case the tree is not fruit-bearing, one peso for each year of  the age of the tree but not to exceed P20.00 per tree.  Other existing crops or semi-permanent buildings shall be compensated  in accordance with their market value as fixed by the Provincial Assessor of Leyte,  the provisions  of Presidential Decree  Nos 76  and 464 notwithstanding.

SEC. 5. The Authority shall deputize the National Development  Company  (NDC), as  reorganized under Presidential Decree No. 1648, to organize  and manage  the  development  of facilities required to accelerate to the  implementation of major industrial  projects in the  Industrial Estate, particularly the three  priority projects,  namely,  the Copper Smelter, Phosphatic  Fertilizer, and  Aluminum Smelter projects, and other  industrial projects  as may be  agreed upon between the Governor of  the Province  of Leyte  and  the Minister of Industry Towards  this end, the NDC shall advance to the Authority the funds needed to  pay for  the coat and other expenses of acquisition of the  private  lands and their improvements required for such projects.   The Authority shall thereafter assigns and cede to NDC  the sites for which the advances have been made.

SEC. 6. The Minister of Public Works, in coordination with the Philippine Ports Authority,  shall immediately undertake the construction of a general public wharf at the  Industrial Estate.  He shall coordinate with the Chairman of the NDC to that  the needs and requirements  for port facilities three priority projects are provided.

SEC. 7. The  Minister of Public Highways  is hereby instructed to  immediately improve the road network to the industrial estate and construct access roads to the copper smelter, phosphatic fertilizer, and aluminum smelter projects and within  the Industrial Estate, as development needs may require.

SEC. 8. The Minister  of Health and Minister of Education and Culture shall immediately undertake measures to provide health services and education to  the members of the community which will be established in the  Industrial Estate.  In coordination with the Minister of Public Workes, they shall construct hospitals, clinics, schools and other public service facilities o  infrastructure as the needs of the community may require.

SEC. 9.  The Minister of the Budget is hereby directed to immediately release to the Authority or to the National Development Company in case of the allocated sites  for the copper, fertilizer  and  aluminum projects, such sums of money from the National Treasury, which have not otherwise been appropriated, for the  improvement of existing roads and the  construction of new roads, the  general public wharf, hospitals, clinics, schools, access roads to  and within the  Industrial Estate, and such  other infrastructure, utilities,  and facilities  for the development  of the Industrial Estate.

SEC.  10. The National Water Resources Council shall permit the diversion or appropriation of water from any public water source to the Authority for use by the Industrial Estate,  free from all kinds of fees  and charges under Presidential Decree

SEC. 11. The provincial officials of Leyte and the mayors, barangay officials, and other local officials of Isabel, and other towns and cities of Leyte, are hereby directed and instructed to provide  assistance to the Authority and the National Development Company in carrying out their functions and instructions.

SEC. 12. The  environmental protection policies  shall be observed in the  development of the Industrial Estate.  However, industrial projects  to be located in the Industrial Estate snail be  exempted from preparing and filing the Environmental Impact Statement required  under Section 4 of Presidential Decree No. 1151.

SEC. 13. Owners of the lends or bonafide tenants thereof who may be dispossessed as a result of  the acquisition of their lands by the  Authority  shall be resettled in appropriate housing sites  which the Authority shall set aside for them.

SEC. 14.  This Looter of Instruction shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines, this 23rd day of November, in the Year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and  seventy-nine.