RECALLING that the reorganization of the government is mandated expressly in Article II, Section I (a), and Article III of the Freedom Constitution;

HAVING IN MIND that pursuant to Executive order No. 5 (1986) it is directed that necessary and proper changes in the organizational and functional structures of the government, its agencies and instrumentalities be effected in order to promote efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of public services;

AFFIRMING that the new administration if committed to formulate and implement more rigorous development policies, plans, programs, and projects for Tribal Filipinos, taking into consideration their respective aspirations, customs, traditions, institutions and interests, in order to promote and preserve their rich cultural heritage and insure their involvement in the country ™s national unity and development;

AFFIRMING FURTHER that the creation of specialized agencies duly vested with appropriate powers and functions has become a national demand necessary to effectively realize the foregoing policies, plans, programs and projects;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, CORAZON C. AQUINO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the sovereign will of the Filipino People and the Freedom Constitution, do hereby order:

SECTION 1. Title. - This Executive Order shall otherwise be known as the Reorganization Act of Government Agencies on cultural communities and Muslim Affairs.

SEC. 2. Reorganizational Changes. - The Office of Muslim Affairs and Cultural Communities is hereby abolished and in its place are created, by the executive order respectively creating them, the Office for Northern Cultural Communities and the Office for Southern Cultural Communities, which shall absorb all the functions of the Bureau of Muslim Affairs.

SEC. 3. Funds and Assets. - Upon the approval of the executive orders respectively creating the Office for Northern Cultural Communities, Office for Southern Cultural Communities and the Office on Muslim Affairs, the assets and liabilities of the Office of Muslim Affairs and Cultural Communities shall be divided as follows:

(a)	All records, equipment, facilities, choses in action, rights and other assets of the defunct Presidential Assistant on National Minorities brought into the merger under Executive Order No. 969, and all records, equipment, facilities, choses in action, rights and other assets presently assigned to the Bureau of National Minorities, including its units, field offices, sub-offices and service centers shall accrue in the Offices for Northern Cultural Communities and Southern Cultural Communities;
(b)	All records, equipment, facilities, choses in action, rights and other assets of the defunct Ministry of Muslim Affairs brought into the merger under Executive Order No. 969 and all records, equipment, facilities, choses in action, rights and other assets presently assigned to the Bureau of Muslim Affairs, including its units, field offices, sub-offices and service centers shall accrue to the Office on Muslim Affairs;
(c)	The equipment, facilities, and other assets presently assigned to the staff services and their units shall be inventoried and divided among the three aforementioned Offices.
(d)	Unexpended balance of the appropriation and savings as well as liabilities, if any, shall be divided among the three aforementioned Offices.

SEC. 4. Implementing Agency. - An implementing agency shall be designated by the President to plan and oversee the implementation of the provisions of the preceding Section 3.

SEC. 5. Personnel. - Upon approval of this Executive Order, the officers (the term œofficer  as used in this Executive Order is intended to be within the meaning of the term œofficial  as used in the Freedom Constitution and the succeeding Constitution) and employees of the Office of Muslim Affairs and Cultural Communities shall, in a holdover capacity, continue to perform their respective duties and responsibilities and receive the corresponding salaries and benefits unless in the meantime they are separated from the service pursuant to Executive Order No. 17 (1986) or Article III of the Freedom Constitution. Their rights and privileges shall also be governed by the executive orders respectively creating the two aforementioned Offices.

SEC. 6. Exercise of Police Power. - The abolition of the Office of Muslim Affairs and Cultural Communities as prescribed in the entirety of this Executive Order is hereby intended and deemed to be an exercise of the police power of the State.

SEC. 7. Funding. - Funds needed to carry out the provisions of this Executive Order shall be taken from funds available in the Office of the Muslim Affairs and Cultural Communities.

SEC. 8. Separability. - Any portion or provision of this Executive Order that may be declared unconstitutional shall not have the effect of nullifying other portions or provisions hereof as long as such remaining portions or provisions can still subsist and be given effect in their entirety.

SEC. 9. Repealing Clause. - All laws, ordinances, rules, regulations, other issuances or parts thereof, which are inconsistent with this Executive Order, are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 10. Effectivity. - This Executive Order shall take effect immediately upon the approval of the three executive orders respectively creating the three aforementioned Offices.

APPROVED in the City of Manila, Philippines, this 30th day of January, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven.


By the President:

(Sgd.) JOKER P. ARROYO
Executive Secretary