ESTABLISHING SEVEN REGIONAL PRISONS AND CONVERTING EXISTING NATIONAL PENAL INSTITUTIONS INTO REGULAR PRISONS AND PENAL FARMS, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

WHEREAS, there were pending before Congress prior to
the promulgation of Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972,
certain priority measures vital to the establishment and maintenance of
peace and order throughout the land;

WHEREAS, one of these priority measures is a bill,
entitled “An Act Establishing Seven Regional Prisons and Converting
Existing National Penal Institutions Into Regular Prisons and Penal
Farms, Appropriating Funds Therefor, And For Other Purposes”;

WHEREAS, this measure offers a positive solution to
the problems bred by our overcrowded national prisons and perpetuated by
an integrated system of confinement of various types of felons,
irrespective of whether they are incorrigibles or merely first
offenders;

WHEREAS, this bill will reduce the incidence of
escapes among national prisoners and promote their rehabilitation by
bringing prisoners and their families and friends closer to each other;

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, 1 972, as amended,
and in order to effect desired changes and reforms in the social,
economic and political structures of our society, do hereby decree that
House Bill No. 4385 entitled “AN ACT ESTABLISHING SEVEN REGIONAL
PRISONS AND CONVERTING EXISTING NATIONAL PENAL INSTITUTIONS INTO
REGULAR PRISONS AND PENAL FARMS, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES,” is hereby adopted and approved, and made part
of the law of the land: Provided, That there shall be immediately
established, in lieu of the number and location of the penal
establishments created thereunder, one regional prison in each of the
following provinces and area: Leyte, Pangasinan and Northeastern
Mindanao.

This Decree shall take effect immediately: provided, That amendments,
changes and modifications may be made by me and the same shall take
effect after my announcement thereof or by my duly designated
representative.

Done in the City of Manila, this 25th day of October, in the year of
Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-two.

			(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS President Republic of the Philippines
	By the President:
	(Sgd.) ALEJANDRO MELCHOR
		Executive Secretary