WHEREAS, the government, fully conscious of the ever decreasing water supply for power, agricultural and commercial uses; the threats of ecological imbalance brought about by the fast-paced utilization of our forest resources without adequate replenishment embarked on the Program for Forest Ecosystem Management (PROFEM) under the leadership of the President, through the Department of Natural Resources with its Secretary as Executive Officer;

WHEREAS, the agency principally charged with the implementation of said program is the Bureau of Forest Development;

WHEREAS, many technical men had left and are leaving the Bureau of Forest Development to join private firms offering higher pay and better fringe benefits;

WHEREAS, the Program for Forest Ecosystem Management (PROFEM) demands that the Bureau of Forest Development should be able to retain the services of its present corps of loyal and dedicated technical men and support services personnel while at the same time, attract brilliant and promising materials that could be turned out by our colleges and schools of forestry;

WHEREAS, there is a need to intensify the protection of our forest lands, develop and rehabilitate our critical watersheds and prevent further squatting within the public forest, a job which calls for vigilant and dedicated field men to be at their respective places of assignments under all conditions;

WHEREAS, in order to successfully realize the objectives of the Program for Forest Ecosystem Management (PROFEM) and the forestry policies and objectives of the new Society under Presidential Decree No. 705 and correlative Letters of Instructions, specially those delving on forest protection, watershed rehabilitations, preventing the proliferation of kaingin making; and in order to meet the high cost of living and to enhance dedication to the service, it is necessary to augment the salaries of all technical men and trained forestry workers as well as the support services personnel in the regular force of the Bureau of Forest Development in the form of monthly incentive allowances;

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

SECTION 1. All technical personnel and other trained forestry workers as well as the support services personnel in the regular force who are assigned in the field offices of the Bureau of Forest Development in the following category shall receive monthly incentive allowances in accordance with salary grouping herein below:

	Position	Monthly Incentive Allowance not to exceed
GROUP A	R-32 to 41	P 400.00
GROUP B	R-42 to 49	500.00
GROUP C	R-50 to 54	750.00
GROUP D	R-55 to 60	1,000.00
GROUP E	R-61 to 65	1,250.00
GROUP F	R-66 and above	,1500.00

SECTION 2. All technical personnel and other trained forestry workers, as well as the support services personnel who are assigned in the Central Office of the Bureau of Forest Development shall receive an amount not to exceed seventy-five per centum (75%) of the preceding schedule.

SECTION 3. Personnel designated pursuant to Section 10 of P.D. 705, shall be entitled to the corresponding monthly incentive allowance provided herein, based on the salary range of the position to which he has been designated.

SECTION 4. The sum of Twenty Million Pesos (P20,000,000.00) is hereby appropriated from the National Treasury out of the unexpanded appropriations or earnings of the Bureau of Forest Development for the current calendar year. Thereafter, such amount as may be necessary shall be included in the General Appropriations Decree of the Bureau of Forest Development.

SECTION 5. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 18th day of April, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Seven.

 

			(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS President of the Philippines
	By the President:
	(Sgd.) JUAN C. TUVERA
		Presidential Executive Assistant