[ PROCLAMATION NO. 142, April 01, 1955 ]
PROCLAIMING THE EXISTENCE OF A PUBLIC CALAMITY IN THE PROVINCES OF MISAMIS ORIENTAL, MISAMIS OCCIDENTAL, SURIGAO, AND LANAO, AND IN THE CITIES OF CAGAYAN DE ORO, OZAMIS, ILIGAN, AND DANSALAN
Having found that the occurrence of widespread earthquakes in the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Surigao, and Lanao, and in the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Ozamis, Iligan, and Dansalan, has not only wrought death and havoc among the inhabitants of said provinces and cities but has also threatened them with famine, disorder, and epidemic, I, Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers conferred upon me by section 1 of Act No. 4164 of the former Philippine Legislature, entitled An Act to Prevent Excessive Increase in the Prices of Certain Prime Necessities of Life on the Occasion of a Public Calamity, Penalizing the Violation Thereof, and For Other Purposes, do hereby proclaim that a public calamity exists in the above-mentioned provinces and cities and declare in full force and effect therein the provisions of Act No. 4164 which prohibits and penalizes the hoarding of palay, rice, corn, building or construction materials, and the other prime necessities of life specified in the list accompanying this proclamation and holding them out for sale or selling them at prices higher by twenty-five per cent or more over and above the average current local price of such commodities one month previous to the occurrence of the disaster above mentioned.
The public order in the provinces and cities above named so requiring, I hereby order the Commander of the Philippine Constabulary of said provinces or their duly authorized representatives and Chiefs of Police of said cities or their duly authorized representatives to seize any stock of palay, rice, corn, building or construction materials , and articles of prime necessities of life specified in the list accompanying this proclamation when they are concealed or hoarded for purposes of profiteering by any owner or dealer thereof when his stock is in excess of his reasonable needs for business or for subsistence.
The articles so seized shall be delivered to the representatives of the Price Stabilization Corporation (PRISCO) in the capitals of said provinces and in the said cities to be sold and disposed of to the public in accordance with law, and the proceeds of the sale at legal prices shall be reimbursed to the respective owners thereof.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Republic of the Philippines to be affixed.
Done in the City of Manila, this 1st day of April, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and fifty-five, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the ninth.
RAMON MAGSAYSAY
President of the Philippines
By the President:
MARIANO YENKO, JR.
Assistant Executive Secretary