WHEREAS, Republic Act No. 59 has declared the offices of governor and members of the provincial board in Cotabato to be elective when the President of the Philippines shall have ascertained and shall so declare by proclamation that the people of said province are ready to elect their provincial governor and the members of the provincial board;

Whereas, under the conditions prevailing in the said province it would see advisable at the present time to authorize the election of only the members of the provincial board as an initial step in the establishment therein of a system of government similar in every respect with the government of regular provinces to afford the people residing therein the opportunity to manage their own affairs to the fullest extent of which they are capable;

Now, therefore, I, Manuel Roxas, President of the Philippines, pursuant to the authority vested in me under Republic Act No. 59, hereby authorize the election of the two members of the provincial board in Cotabato in the next regular election for provincial offices throughout the Philippines, in accordance with the provisions of the Revised Election Code.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Republic of the Philippines to be affixed.

Done at the City of Manila, this 26^th day of August, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the second.

(Sgd.) MANUEL ROXAS

President of the Philippines

By the President:

(Sgd.) EMILIO ABELLO

Chief of the Executive Office