WHEREAS, the international community is one in upholding and protecting the best interest of children with the universal ratification of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child;

WHEREAS, the Philippines as a State Party to the Convention is committed to undertake all appropriate measures for the implementation of its provisions;

WHEREAS, the Convention stipulates the right of the child to access to information and materials from a diversity of sources necessary for promoting the social, spiritual, moral, physical and mental well-being of children;

WHEREAS, the provision of quality mass media, planning and programming should be geared toward fulfilling the right of the child to information;

WHEREAS, the 1995 World Summit on Children and Television, held in Melbourne, Australia, is a recognition of the developmental rights of a child;

WHEREAS, the holding of the First Asia Pacific Summit on Child Rights and the Media was identified as the first regional response to the Summit;

WHEREAS, the willingness of the Philippines to host the Summit is a concrete manifestation of our commitment to improving the quality of lives of children;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FIDEL V. RAMOS, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order:

SECTION 1. National Organizing Committee. - A National Organizing Committee for the First Asia Pacific Summit on Child Rights and the Media, herein referred to as the Committee, is hereby created, which is tasked to orchestrate the overall implementation of the Summit activities.

SEC. 2. Composition. - The Committee shall be chaired by the Chairman of the Council for the Welfare of Children with the Chairman of the Philippine Children ™s Television Foundation (PCTVF) as Vice-Chair, and with the representatives of the following, as members:

Office of the Press Secretary
Philippine Information Agency
Presidential Management Staff
Office of the Presidential Assistant for Social Development
Department of Education, Culture and Sports
Department of Foreign Affairs
Department of Tourism
Department of Interior and Local Government
Department of Budget and Management
National Economic and Development Authority
Philippine National Police
UNICEF Manila
Republic Broadcasting System, Inc. (GMA)
Asean Broadcasting Foundation

SEC. 3. Functions of the Committee. - The Committee shall create a Secretariat and such other sub-committees, as may be necessary to fulfill its mandate, and formulate mechanisms that will ensure the success of the Summit. Pursuant thereto, the Committee shall have the authority to call upon the assistance of any department, agency or instrumentality of the Government.

SEC. 4. Funding. - The amount of two million five hundred thousand pesos (P2,500,000.00) from the International Commitment Fund is hereby authorized for this purpose, subject to the usual government accounting and auditing rules and regulations.

SEC. 5. Effectivity. - This Administrative Order shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 20th day of March, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Six.

(Sgd.) FIDEL V. RAMOS
President of the Philippines

By the President:
(Sgd.) RUBEN D. TORRES
Executive Secretary