WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 371 dated 02 October 1996, proclaimed a Special Zone of Peace and Development in the Southern Philippines and established the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) and the Consultative Assembly;

WHEREAS, there is a need to designate a principal office for the SPCPD and the Consultative Assembly to allow these bodies to carry out their functions more efficiently and effectively and facilitate their transactions with the public;

WHEREAS, the designation of a principal office shall not preclude the SPCPD from establishing field monitoring offices in other areas;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FIDEL V. RAMOS, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law and the Constitution, do hereby order that the principal office of the SPCPD and Consultative Assembly shall be in Cotabato City.

This Administrative Order shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 21st day of January, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Seven.

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

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