CREATING A NATIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT BOARD

In order to coordinate all Government and private efforts to reduce unemployment and to aid those who are in distress on account of unavoidable unemployment, I, Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby create a National Unemployment Board, composed of the Commissioner of Health and Welfare as Chairman, and the Undersecretary of Public Works and Communications, the Undersecretary of Agriculture and Commerce, the Undersecretary of Labor, the Executive Secretary of the Associated Charities of Manila, and two other persons who shall be appointed by the President, as members.

It shall be the duty of this Board to take a census of all unemployed persons in the Philippines, to ascertain their needs, to determine upon ways and means for relieving or ameliorating their conditions, and to advise the Government authorities concerned as to the expenditure of the funds now appropriated or which may hereafter be appropriated for relief purposes.

The Board shall also be advise the appropriate Departments, Bureaus, offices, subdivisions, agencies, or instrumentalities of the Commonwealth Government from time to time as to the unemployment situation in the different localities in the Philippines with a view to giving employment, so far as practicable, to those in need of aid on public works projects and other work carried out by any branch or agency of the Government. It shall further seek to enlist the cooperation of private employers in the distribution of employment in such a manner as to provide the maximum amount of relief from unemployment.

The National Unemployment Board is hereby authorized to establish branches or agencies in the provinces, chartered cities, and municipalities with a view to carrying out within their respective jurisdiction the purposes for which the said Board is created.

All officers and employees of the National, provincial, and municipal governments are hereby enjoined to cooperate in every way possible with the National Unemployment Board, and to faithfully perform such duties as may be assigned to them by the said Board with the approval of the corresponding Department Head.

Executive Order Numbered Five hundred sixteen, series of nineteen hundred and thirty-four, and all other Orders which are consistent herewith are hereby revoked.

Done at the City of Manila, this eight day of October, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, and of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the second.

By the President:

(Sgd.) ELPIDIO QUIRINO
Secretary of the Interior