Pursuant to the powers vested in me by Republic Act No. 422, I, Elpidio Quirino, President of the Philippines, do hereby order:

Section 1. There is hereby created an office to be known as the Philippine Information Service which shall function under the Office of the President of the Philippines and whose duty shall be to inform the public at home and abroad of the policies, plans, activities and accomplishments of the Government; of public problems and the manner in which they are being considered and solved; of the general progress and foreign relations of the Republic of the Philippines as well as the culture of the people; and of all such news and developments, within the country or outside, which may be of general interest to the people or may affect their welfare.

SEC. 2. The governing and policy-determining body of the Philippine Information Service shall be the Philippine Information Board composed of seven members appointed by the President for a term of one year. The President shall designate from among the members the Chairman and Vice-Chairman thereof. Members of the Board who are not officers and employees of the Government shall receive a per diem of twenty-five pesos for every meeting attended by them. The Press Secretary in the Office of the President shall be ex-officio Secretary of the Board.

SEC. 3. The Board, immediately after being constituted or upon the appointment of a majority of its members, shall adopt such policies, plans, rules and regulations as may be necessary to guide and govern the operation of the Philippine Information Service and thereafter proceed with the organization of the service itself and the appointment of its staff.

SEC. 4. The Philippine Information Service shall be headed by a Director of Information who shall carry out the policies and directives of the Board.

SEC. 5. Upon approval by the Board, the Philippine Information Service shall employ such systems, procedures and methods or avail of all such means and media as it may deem necessary to enable it to adequately discharge its duties and functions and to fully and efficiently realize its aims and objectives.

SEC. 6. The Board is hereby further authorized to integrate into the Philippine Information Service the public information and publicity services of all Departments, agencies and instrumentalities of the Government, including those of the government-owned or controlled corporations, reorganizing such services, transferring personnel from one to the other, reinforcing those that are deficient or dispensing with those that are unnecessary, as the case may be, thereby simplifying, coordinating and rendering more efficient and effective the public information and publicity services of the Government.

SEC. 7. The Philippine Information Service is hereby authorized to call upon any Department, bureau, office, agency or instrumentality of the Government, including the corporations owned and controlled by it, for such assistance as it may require from time to time or as may be necessary to carry out specific projects.

SEC. 8. The Board shall have at its disposal for the organization and maintenance of the Philippine Information Service the sums appropriated under item IV-3 and item IV-11, pages 51 and 58, respectively, of Republic Act No. 563 and other sums now available or to be made available for public information and publicity purposes in any other Department, office, agency and instrumentality of the Government, including the government-owned or controlled corporations. The expenditure of the funds herein provided for shall be itemized in a special budget to be prepared by the Board in accordance with Commonwealth Act No. 246.

SEC. 9. This Order shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 29th day of September, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and fifty, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the fifth.


By the President:
(SGD.) TEODORO EVANGELISTA
Executive Secretary