WHEREAS, the development of low-cost housing is an essential segment of the national effort to accelerate the country ™s economic and social development;

WHEREAS, the functions of the People ™s Homesite and Housing Corporation, the Home Financing Commission, the Rehabilitation Finance Corporation, the National Planning Commission, and the National Economic Council are inextricably linked with housing problems; and

WHEREAS, the coordination and integration of the varrious efforts towards the improvement of housing facilities by way of home-building and slum clearance, not only in the cities but also in our small communities, would make these efforts more effective and their results more lasting for the benefit of our people;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby create a National Housing Council, to be composed of a representative each from the People ™s Homesite and Housing Corporation, the Home Financing Commission, the National Planning Commission, the Rehabilitation Finance Corporation, and the National Economic Council, the Chairman of which shall be designated by the President. The Council shall perform the following functions:

1. To advise the President of the Philippines on proper policies or measures which will render more effective the plans and programs of the government in promoting the construction of family-owned homes and rebuilding homes destroyed during the war;

2. To recommend to the President the enactment of necessary legislation aimed at the creation of local housing authorities that will plan and promote slum-clearance and public low-cost rental housing in the principal cities all over the country;

3. To advise the President on the necessity of legislation for the raising and allocation of funds to promote private housing through aided self-help in the small communities as well as to make possible low-rental public housing for low-income groups in principal cities and for research into the most effective use of local raw materials for housing and other constructions;

4. To assist the President in evaluating existing housing projects or programs and in determining how such projects or programs may be accelerated or improved; and

5. To make recommendations on such other matters as the President may, from time to time, submit for study and consideration.

The National Housing Council is hereby authorized to call upon any department, bureau, office, agency, or instrumentality of the Government for such assistance or information as may be needed to carry out its duties and functions.

Done in the City of Manila, this 28th day of December, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and fifty-five, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the tenth.

(Sgd.) RAMON MAGSAYSAY
President of the Philippines

By the President:
(Sgd.) MARIANO YENKO, JR.
Assistant Executive Secretary