PROCLAMATION NO. 216, November 28, 1955

WHEREAS, section 1 of Republic Act No. 1355,
approved on June 18, 1955, authorizes the President of the Philippines, at any
time prior to January 1, 1956, to enter into an agreement with the President of
the United States of America for the revision of the 1946 Trade Agreement
between the Philippines and the United States on the basis of the Final Act of
Negotiations, which was signed at Washington, D. C., on December 15, 1954;

WHEREAS, pursuant to the provisions of said
section 1 of Republic Act No. 1355 and section 201 of the Act of Congress of
the United States of America, entitled “Philippine Trade Agreement Revision Act
of 1955,” the President of the Philippines and the President of the United
States of America, through their respective plenipotentiaries, signed an
agreement at Washington on September 6, 1955, revising the Agreement concerning
Trade and Related Matters entered into by the President of the Philippines and
the President of the United States of America on July 4, 1946;

WHEREAS, on September 6, 1955, the two
Governments exchanged notes clarifying certain provisions of the said Agreement
between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America
concerning Trade and Related Matters during a Transitional Period following the
institution of Philippine Independence signed at Manila on July 4, 1946, as
revised;

WHEREAS, section 3 of Republic Act No. 1355
provides that “If the revised agreement has been entered into prior to January
1, 1956, the President of the Philippines shall so proclaim, and such agreement
shall be effective in, and binding on, the Philippines in accordance with the
terms thereof”; and

WHEREAS, on October 26, 1955, the President of
the United States of America proclaimed the aforesaid Revised Agreement,
including a Protocol, Annexes, and related exchange of notes, in pursuance of
section 301 (a) of the Philippine Trade Agreement Revision Act of 1955
of the Congress of the United States of America;

Now, THEREFORE, be it known that I, Ramon Magsaysay,
President of the Philippines, in pursuance of the aforesaid section 3 of
Republic Act No. 1355, do hereby proclaim and make public the Agreement between
the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America concerning
Trade and Related Matters during a Transitional Period following the
institution of Philippine Independence signed at Manila on July 4, 1946, as
Revised in Washington on September 6, 1955, including a Protocol, Annexes, and
Related Exchange of Notes both dated September 6, 1955, copies of which are
hereto attached, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof
may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the Republic of the
Philippines and the ‘citizens thereof on and after January 1, 1956.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand
and caused to be affixed the seal of the Republic of the Philippines.

Done in the City of Manila, this 28th day of
November, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and fifty-five, and of the
Independence of the Philippines, the tenth.

RAMON MAGSAYSAY
President of the Philippines

By the President:

MARIANO YENKO, JR.
Assistant Executive Secretary