WHEREAS, consumer prices of basic food items, constituting the daily food staples of the average wage earner, have increased;

WHEREAS, private industry, cognizant of the invevitable influence that a rising cost of living will have on existing scales of wages, have manifested willingness to cooperate in implementing a plan to bring down the prices of at least the basic ten or dozen main and common food items, by organizing the supply of these items direct to consumer groups through cooperatives;

WHEREFORE, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Republic of the Philippines, do hereby create a presidential committee to coordinate the implementation of a joint government and private industry plan to bring down the currently high prices of basic staple food items, the Committee to be composed as follows:

The Executive Secretary..................................................	Chairman
The Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources........	Member
The Secretary of Commerce & Industry .........................	Member
The Governor of the Central Bank..................................	Member
The Director General of the Presidential Economic Staff	Member

To insure effective cooperation from private enterprise, the Committee shall be guided by the communication of the President of the Chamber of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the Philippines, dated April 5, 1972.

Coordination with the private sector shall be effected through a counterpart committee composed of the following:

The President of the Chamber of Agriculture & natural Resources of the Philippines	Chairman
The President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines	Member
The President of the Philippine Chamber of Industries	Member
The President of the National Federation of Women ™s Clubs, in representation of the consumers	Member

The Committee shall avail of the assistance and cooperation of other departments, agencies and instrumentalities of government, including their bureaus and other subdivisions, whenever necessary in pursuance of the activities under this joint government and private industry effort.

To provide such facilities administrative and technical support to the Committee, the Presidential Economic Staff and the Development Management Staff, are hereby designated as the Coordinating Secretariat. The Secretariat will coordinate the joint efforts involved in:

1. organizing consumer cooperative in both government and private enterprise sectors;
   
   
2. organizing producers cooperatives;
   
   
3. mobilizing the sources of supply of the aforesaid basic consumer food items; and
   
   
4. facilitating and/or expediting regular delivery by private enterprise of said items to the consumer cooperatives in satisfaction of the periodic requirements of the consumer members.

The Committee of the private sector is hereby authorized to assign representatives or personnel to assist the Presidential Committee and maintain liaison therewith or with any of the agencies or offices involved in the implementation of the plan in all levels.

All departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of government are hereby directed to extend utmost and prompt cooperation to both the government and the private sector committees, in consonance with their respective official functions, and/or assistance in personnel, equipment and/or supplies, in pursuance of said plan implementation.

The Presidential Committee shall resolve promptly all problems of implementation and render a weekly progress report to the President. It shall, likewise, from time to time release pertinent information on the prices of the aforesaid basic food items to the public through the Malaca ang Press Office.

Done in the City of Manila, on this 9th day of May, 1972.


By the President:

(Sgd.) ROBERTO V. REYES
Acting Executive Secretary