In view of the difficulties that have been encountered in the enforcement of Commonwealth Act Numbered Eighty-eight, creating the State Police Force, and the conflict of authority that has arisen between the officials of the National Government in charge of the State Police under the law on the one hand, and the local officials on the other;

Now, therefore, I, Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by law, hereby order the observance of the following policy in the enforcement of Commonwealth Act Numbered Eighty-eight by the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Public Safety:

The provincial governors shall be ex officio deputy Commissioner of Public Safety and the municipal president ex officio police inspectors. The Mayor of the City of Manila who, in his capacity as such, exercise the dual powers and duties equally of provincial governor and municipal president, shall be both Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety and Inspector of Police in the City of Manila. The Chief of Police of the City of Manila shall be under the direct orders of the Mayor and shall report to him directly. In case of national emergency and by authority of the President, the police of the City of Manila, may be placed under the direct orders and control of either the Commissioner of Public Safety or such other officials as may be designated by the President for the emergency.

All members of the local police forces in and outside of the City of Manila discharging their duties as such on the date of this Order shall be allowed to continue in their respective positions until given reasonable opportunity to qualify under the requirements of the Civil Service Law: Provided, however, that any individual may be separated from the service at any time on competent evidence of misconduct or inefficiency in the discharge of his duties.

Every individual now in the service shall be allowed a maximum of three chances within which to qualify in appropriate civil service examinations. Such examinations shall aim to test the fitness and qualifications of the individual to perform the particular duties of a policeman. Any person failing to qualify under civil service requirements within three years from the date of publication of this Order, shall be separated from the service. All new appointments shall be subject to the requirements of the Civil Service Law.

The salaries now being paid to members of police forces shall not be reduced for the more purpose of placing on the same level the salaries of policemen throughout the Philippines. When the National Assembly shall have enacted legislation for the standardization of police salaries on the basis of the capacity of the local governments to pay, the amount and quality of the work required, and the relative qualifications demanded of men engaged in police services, salaries of all individuals in these services will be made to conform to the provisions of such law.

Done at the City of Manila, this eleventh day of September, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, and of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the second.


By the President:

(Sgd.) ELPIDIO QUIRINO
Secretary of the Interior