EXEMPTING THE HARBOR POLICE FORCE IN MATTERS OF APPOINTMENTS, PROMOTIONS, DISCIPLINE AND REMOVAL FROM THE CIVIL SERVICE RULES AND REGULATIONS

WHEREAS, by Executive Order No. 228 issued on October 31, 1939, the Harbor Police was created on a semi-military basis to secure and maintain a high degree of efficiency in the organization and operation of all police agencies within the harbor and port areas in the City of Manila and in other ports of entry in the Philippines;

WHEREAS this organization is performing police duties essentially different from those of other police agencies in the Philippines and in an area which is important from the standpoint of the national defense;

WHEREAS, pursuant to the above-mentioned Executive Order, Customs Administrative Order No. 387, otherwise known as Harbor Police Regulations, was promulgated on December 28, 1940, duly approved by the Secretary of Finance, under which regulations all matters relating to the appointment, promotion, discipline, and removal of the members of the Harbor Police, except that of the Chief thereof, are subject to Civil Service Rules and Regulations; and

WHEREAS, in view of existing conditions, it is essential that all such matters be attended to as expeditiously as possible;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution and existing laws and to better serve the ends for which the Harbor Police has been organized, do hereby order that the appointment, promotion, discipline, and removal of the members of the Harbor Police be subject only to the discretion of the appointing authority.

The provisions of Customs Administrative Order No. 387 which are in conflict with the provisions of this Order are hereby repealed or modified.

Done at the City of Manila, this twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and forty-one, and of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the seventh.

By the President:

(Sgd.) JORGE B. VARGAS
Secretary to the President