WHEREAS, there is a pressing need for coordinating and assuring better preparation of all requests from the Philippines for priority assistance on orders for commodities in short supply in the United States;

WHEREAS, public interest demands that the inconvenience involved in securing such priority assistance be minimized as much as possible;

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, I, Elpidio Quirino, President of the Philippines, do hereby create a Committee, to be known as the Priority Assistance Committee, composed of the following:

1. A representative of the Central Bank	Chairman
2. A representative of the Department of Foreign Affairs	Member
3. A representative of the Philippine Council for U. S. Aid	Member

The Committee shall prescribe and direct the procedure for filing priority assistance requests for scarce materials in the United States and for obtaining such assistance. This includes, but is not limited to, the preparation of the official statements of end-use justification, the transmittal of approved applications through the Department of Foreign Affairs to the Philippine Embassy, Washington, D. C, and the performance of such other functions as may be necessary to facilitate the approval of requests for priority assistance.

The Committee shall also prescribe the manner in which the Philippine Embassy in Washington shall participate in forwarding requests for priority assistance to the proper agencies of the United States Government and facilitating their approval.

The Committee may call upon any department, bureau, office, agency or instrumentality of the Government, including the corporations owned or controlled by it, or upon any official or employee thereof, to assist it in the performance of its duties and functions.

Done in the City of Manila, this 6th day of December, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and fifty-one, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the sixth.


By the President:

(Sgd.) MARCIANO ROQUE
Acting Assistant Executive Secretary