Upon the recommendation of the Chairman of the Rice Commission and the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and pursuant to the authority vested in me by law, I, Elpidio Quirino, President of the Philippines, do hereby designate Mr. Severino Nico, Division Inspector of the Bureau of Lands, to make a thorough investigation of the disputes and other differences that have arisen between the National Land Settlement Administration and the National Development Company in regard to the cultivation of areas designated for the use of the National Development Company in Ala Valley, particularly in the Banga District, Province of Cotabato, especially in relation to the claims of bona fide settlers on their rights over the areas under mechanized cultivation.

Mr. Nico shall submit his report and recommendations to the President of the Philippines as soon as possible but not later than December 31. 3948.

Under this designation, Mr. Nico is hereby empowered and authorized to issue subpoena and subpoena duces tecum, to compel the production of documents, to administer oaths and take testimony or evidence relative to the matter herein involved.

Done in the City of Manila, this 12th day of November, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and forty-eight, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the third.


By the President:

(Sgd.) TEODORO EVANGELISTA
Executive Secretary