MALACAÑANG 
Manila

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE No. 37

CREATING THE NAYONG PILIPINO FOUNDATION

WHEREAS, it is deemed necessary to create a foundation which will promote, encourage and initiate research and development projects and activities in social sciences, humanities, social and amelioration and allied fields.

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, 1972, do hereby create the Nayong Pilipino Foundation, a body corporate, with its main executive office at Manila, hereinafter known as the Nayong Pilipino.

1. The purposes and objectives of the Nayong Pilipino are as follows:

(a) To promote, encourage, espouse and/or initiate research and development projects on social sciences and humanities and related fields;

(b) To formulate a comprehensive social welfare program for the upliftment, improvement and amelioration of the social and economic conditions of the unfortunate destitute members of our society with the end in view of availing maximum utilization of their potentialities in the solution of the country’s problems;

(c) To encourage and facilitate the active participation of the domestic and foreign sectors in furnishing financial, technical and other forms of assistance for the Foundation’s social welfare programs;

(d) To promote and encourage the dissemination of the results of its researches and studies in social sciences and humanities and to encourage their practical application to problems of the masses;

(e) To establish, set up and/or maintain scholarships or professional chairs in order to foster, promote and encourage the study and improvement of fundamental or pure research, applied research, developmental work and/or economic evaluation in the fields of social sciences or humanities;

(f) To establish parks and recreation centers for the promotion of tourism in this country; and

(g) To construct, improve, enlarge or equip or to cause the building, improvement, enlarging or equipping of buildings, libraries, laboratories, workshops or other educational accessories, required for scientific research; to establish, maintain, or aid others to establish or maintain institutions doing research of all kinds in the fields of social sciences and humanities.

2. The Foundation shall be a non-stock, non-profit public corporation, organized, established and operated in the public interest and no portion of its funds and income shall inure to the benefit of any of its members.

3. The policy-making body of the Nayong Pilipino shall be the Board of Trustees composed of a Chairman and eight Members to be appointed by the President for a term of one year. The chairman and members shall be persons genuinely interested in the promotion of the purposes and objectives of the Foundation.

4. The Board of Trustees shall ordain and promulgate rules and regulations to govern the organization, meeting of the Board, its officers, their powers and duties, as well as other officers, and their duties, and matters pertinent to the management and operation of the Nayong Pilipino, in a Code of By-Laws which shall be passed by an affirmative vote of the majority of all the members.

5. The Board shall appoint an Executive Secretary who shall take charge of administering the affairs of the Foundation and shall act as secretary to the Board.

6. The Nayong Pilipino shall have the power to sue and be sued; to contract and be contracted with; to own and hold such real and personal property as shall be necessary for corporate purposes; to receive real and personal property by gift, devise or bequest; to adopt a seal and alter the same; to adopt by-laws, rules and regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this Decree; to exercise all the general powers of a corporation established under the Corporation Law; and to do all such acts and things as may be necessary to carry into effect the provision of this Decree.

7. The ownership and title to the property now actually occupied by the Nayong Pilipino Foundation is hereby transferred in fee simple to the Nayong Pilipino, subject to the following conditions:

(a) The title to the land conveyed by this Decree shall not be transferred by the Nayong Pilipino to another person or entity without previous authorization by the President of the Philippines.

(b) The Nayong Pilipino is hereby authorized to mortgage the property referred to above for the purpose of carrying out its objectives and purposes only; and

(c) In case the Nayong Pilipino is dissolved or ceases, for any reason, to undertake its objectives, or ceases to need the land for any reason, said land shall ipso facto revert to the National Government without compensation.

8. The Nayong Pilipino shall be exempt from all forms of taxation whatever and from duties and all other imposts on any equipment, articles or goods that it may import from abroad which may be reasonably necessary for use in or as part of its operation.

9. The Nayong Pilipino shall at the end of every calendar year, submit to the President of the Philippines and Congress an annual report containing the activities of the corporation and showing clearly its exact financial condition, the sources of all receipts and the purposes of all disbursements.

10. If any clause, paragraph or part of this Decree shall be adjudged to be invalid, the same shall not affect, impair or invalidate the other provisions of this Decree.

11. This Decree is hereby made part of the law of the land and shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 6th day of November, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-two.

(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President of the Philippines

By the President:
(Sgd.) ALEJANDRO MELCHOR
Executive Secretary

Source: Malacañang Records Office