WHEREAS, the Code Committee created under Commonwealth Act No. 628, approved on June 10, 1941, could not complete its work and submit its report within the period of two years from that date as required by said Act, by reason of the outbreak of war, thus rendering inoperative the provisions of said Act;

WHEREAS, there is urgent need for immediate revision of all existing substantive laws of the Philippines and of codifying them in conformity with the customs, traditions, and idiosyncrasies of the Filipino people and with modern trends in legislation and the progressive principles of law;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Manuel Roxas, President of the Philippines , by virtue of the powers vested in me by Republic Act No. 51, do hereby create a Code Commission composed of a Chairman and four Members to be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments. For administrative purposes, the Commission shall be under the Executive control and supervision of the Secretary of Justice.

1. The Chairman and the Members of the Commission shall receive such compensation as may be fixed by the President of the Philippines , but if they are at the same time government officials receiving regular salaries, they shall serve without additional compensation. The Secretary of Justice shall,, subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Law and of Commonwealth Act No. 402, dated September 13, 1938 , appoint such assistants and subordinate employees as may be necessary.

2. The Commission is empowered to call upon any official or employee of any bureau, office, branch, subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of the Government to assist or otherwise extend his cooperation to the Commission in connection with the performance of its functions.

3. The Commission shall complete its work not later than June 30, 1949 , and shall submit to the President of the Philippines a report of the work undertaken by it together with the corresponding drafts of the different codes for submission to the Congress of the Philippines .

4. Upon completion of its work and submission of its report, which shall both be done not later than June 30, 1949 , the Commission shall cease to exist and the services of its Chairman and Members and of all employees working under it shall terminate.  All the records, documents, and proceedings of the Commission shall be delivered to the National Library for preservation or disposition by the latter office according to law.  The other properties of the Commission shall be disposed of in accordance with the Accounting Law and regulations. The unexpended balances of its funds shall revert to the unappropriated general fund of the National Treasury.

5. The sum of fifteen thousand pesos, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby made available for the operation and maintenance of the Code Commission from the date of its organization until June 30, 1947 , the said amount to be taken from Item G-IV-7, pages 219 and 220 of Republic Act No. 80.

Done at the City of Manila , this 20th day of March, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, and of the Independence of the Philippines , the first.

 

	(Sgd.) MANUEL ROXAS
	President of the Philippines
By the President:
(Sgd.) EMILIO ABELLO
Chief of the Executive Office