CREATING A REVIEW COMMITTEE TO STUDY THE INTEGRATION INTO ONE DEPARTMENT OF ALL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES INVOLVED IN CORRECTIONS

WHEREAS, this fragmented set-up is
aggravated by the non-institutional correctional programs handled by the Board
of Pardons and Parole and the Parole and Probation Administration, which are
under the Department of Justice;

WHEREAS, this existing system is not
conducive to efficiency, sound management and a unified development program for
corrections;

WHEREAS, in line with the vision of
Philippines 2000, there is an urgent need to integrate, unify and modernize our
correctional system under a single department;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FIDEL V. RAMOS,
President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do
hereby order as follows:

SECTION 1. A Review Committee on the
Correctional System is hereby created composed of:

SEC. 2. The Committee shall perform the
following functions:

a. Review and study existing correctional systems,
policies and problems and come up with measures including legislative and
administrative proposals to correct existing deficiencies in the correctional
system. For this purpose, the Committee can call on any and all government and
non-government agencies and instrumentalities and submit its recommendations to
the President, thru the Office of the Executive Secretary, not later than 31
May 1996.

b. The Commission shall serve as Secretariat for
the government agencies involved in corrections to monitor and follow-up the
implementation of the outputs of the Strategic Planning Workshop on the
Modernization of Correctional System held in Antipolo, Rizal last 13 to 15
November 1995.

c. Create a technical working group which shall
include non-government agencies involved in corrections.

d. Formulate its rules and regulations.

SEC. 3. The amount of Five Hundred
Thousand Pesos (P500,000.00) is hereby allocated from the President’s
Contingency Fund for the operations of the Committee.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 12th day of April
in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Six.

(Sgd.) FIDEL V. RAMOS
President of the Philippines

By the
President:

(Sgd.) RUBEN
D. TORRES
Executive Secretary