WHEREAS, it is necessary that the general public be duly informed or reminded of the procedure provided by law and regulations by which complaints against public officials and employees should be presented and prosecuted;

WHEREAS, actions on complaints are at times delayed because of the failure to observe the formal requisites therefor, to indicate with sufficient clearness and particularity the charges or offenses being aired or denounced, and to file the complaint with the proper office or authority;

WHEREAS, without in any way curtailing the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression, the Administration believes that many complaints or grievances could be resolved at the lower levels of government if only the provisions of law and regulations on the matter are duly observed by the parties concerned; and

WHEREAS, while all sorts of official misconduct should be eliminated and punished, it is equally compelling that public officials and employees be given the opportunity afforded them by the constitution and law to defend themselves in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law and regulations;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order:

1. Complaints against public officials and employees shall be in writing, subscribed and sworn to by the complainants, describing in sufficient detail and particularity the acts or conduct complained of, instead of generalizations.
   
   
2. Complaints against presidential appointees shall be filed with the Office of the President or the Department Head having direct supervision or control over the official involved.
   
   
3. Those against subordinate officials and employees shall be lodged with the proper department or agency head.
   
   
4. Those against elective local officials shall be filed with the Office of the President in case of provincial and city officials, with the provincial governor or board secretary in case of municipal officials, and with the municipal or city mayor or secretary in case of barrio officials.
   
   
5. Those against members of police forces shall be filed with the corresponding local board of investigators headed by the city or municipal treasurer, except in the case of those appointed by the President which should be filed with the Office of the President.
   
   
6. Complaints against public officials and employees shall be promptly acted upon and disposed of by the officials or authorities concerned in accordance with pertinent laws and regulations so that the erring officials or employees can be soonest removed or otherwise disciplined and the innocent, exonerated or vindicated in like manner, and to the end also that other remedies, including court action, may be pursued forthwith by the interested parties after administrative remedies shall have been exhausted.

Done in the City of Manila, this 6th day of October, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy.


By the President:

(SGD.) ALEJANDRO MELCHOR
Executive Secretary