WHEREAS, export processing zones in the country are established to carry out the policy of the government of encouraging and promoting foreign commerce with a view to making the Philippines, a center of international trade, strengthening export trade and foreign exchange position, hastening industrialization, reducing domestic unemployment, and accelerating the development of the country;

WHEREAS, there is a need to assist these export processing zones in increasing their effectiveness and capability to achieve their objectives;

WHEREAS, the Bataan Export Processing Zone, in particular, requires effective service delivery from the Ministry of Labor and Employment in order to maintain its capability and competitive position;

WHEREAS, the present facilities of the Ministry of Labor and Employment in the Bataan Export Processing Zone are inadequate to provide quick response and effective service for among others, the effective prevention and settlement of labor disputes including the protection and promotion of workers ™ welfare and interest in order to avoid unnecessary disruption of business operations in the zone;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution and the authority vested in me by Presidential Decree No. 1416, as amended, do hereby order and ordain:

SECTION 1. The Ministry of Labor and Employment Zonal Extension Office is hereby established in the Bataan Export Processing Zone in order to provide the labor and employment service requirements of the area.

SECTION 2. The MOLE Zonal Extension Office shall, among others, exercise original and exclusive jurisdiction over labor cases arising within the Zone; implement applicable laws as well as plans, programs, rules and regulations of the Ministry; and provide economical, efficient and effective labor and manpower services to the people in the area.

SECTION 3. Under the immediate supervision of the MOLE Regional Director in Region III, the MOLE Zonal Extension Office shall be headed by an Assistant Regional Director who shall be provided with such number of staff support as may be necessary to effectively and efficiently carry out the Ministry ™s programs and projects in the Zone.

SECTION 4. The staff of the Zonal Extension Office shall be entitled to free quarters within the MOLE Zonal Extension Office Building which is hereby authorized to be constructed, incentive allowances of not exceeding fifty percent of their annual salary and such other emoluments as may be allowed by the Office of Budget and Management.

SECTION 5. Close coordination should be enhanced between the Ministry of Labor and Employment and the Export Processing Zone Administration as regards their policies in the pursuit of their respective objectives.

SECTION 6. To facilitate mobility of the personnel assigned in this area at least one motor vehicle shall be provided to the MOLE Zonal Extension Office.

SECTION 7. To expediently and expeditiously carry out the provisions of this Order, the Office of Budget and Management and Ministry of Labor and Employment are hereby authorized to allocate personnel. The amount of One Million Pesos (P1,000,000.00) is authorized for the operations of the MOLE Zonal Extension Office at Bataan.

SECTION 8. All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof, which are inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Executive Order are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 9. This Executive Order shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 30th day of January in the Year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Three.


By the President:

(SGD.) JUAN C. TUVERA
Presidential Executive Assistant