DECLARING THE EFFECTIVITY OF THE CREATION OF THE COMMISSION ON AUDIT AS PROVIDED IN THE NEW CONSTITUTION AND PROVIDING GUIDELINES FOR THE OPERATION THEREOF

WHEREAS, on January 17, 1973, the new1
Constitution became effective when it was ratified by the people as
announced by Proclamation No. 1102 issued on the same date; and

WHEREAS, the new Constitution provides for an
independent Commission on Audit composed of a Chairman and two
Commissioners, and as a result of the effectivity of the new
Constitution the Commission on Audit provided therein is deemed to have
come into existence;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS,
President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by
the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the
Philippines, and pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21,
1972, and General Order No. 1, dated September 22, 1972, do hereby
declare and decree:

1. The Commission on Audit provided in the new
   Constitution (Art. XII) is now in existence.
2. The Commission on Audit shall function in accordance
   with the pertinent provisions of the Constitution and existing laws,
   rules and regulations which are not in conflict or incompatible with the
   provisions of the Constitution.
3. The Commission, in the discharge of its duties and
   functions, shall see to it that government funds and property are fully
   protected and conserved and that irregular, unnecessary, excessive or
   extravagant expenditures or uses of such funds and property are
   prevented.

This Decree is hereby made part of the law of the land and
shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 26th day of January, in the
year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-three.