EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 489, November 22, 1991

INSTITUTIONALIZING THE INTER-AGENCY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

WHEREAS, it is the policy-thrust of the Government to safeguard and make the environment conducive to the improvement and maintenance of the health of the people throughout the country;

WHEREAS, the Cabinet had taken steps towards this direction by creating the Inter-Agency Committee on Environmental Health under Cabinet Resolution No. 3, series of 1987;

WHEREAS, there is a need to institutionalize the Inter-Agency Committee on Environmental Health to make it more effective and efficient in the discharge of its functions and responsibilities as well as responsive to the demands of the times; and

WHEREAS, it is imperative to strengthen the said Inter-Agency Committee to better protect the health of the people from the growing health problems related to environmental degradation;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, CORAZON C. AQUINO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order

Section 1. The Inter-Agency Committee on Environmental Health, hereinafter referred to as the Committee, is hereby reconstituted and institutionalized and shall be composed of the following:

a. Secretary of Health - Chairman

b. Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources - Vice Chairman

c. Secretary of Public Works and Highways - Member

d. Secretary of the Interior and Local Government - Member

e. Secretary of Agriculture - Member

f. Secretary of Trade and Industry - Member

g. Secretary of Transportation and Communications - Member

h. Secretary of Science and Technology - Member

i. Secretary of Labor and Employment - Member

j. Director General National Economic and Development Authority  - Member

k. Director General, Philippine Information Agency - Member

Section 2. The Committee shall perform the following functions and responsibilities:

a. Formulate policies, promulgate guidelines and develop programs for environmental health protection;

b. Coordinate, monitor and evaluate environmental health programs and development projects initiated by the Government and private agencies to achieve environmental protection for health promotion;

c. Undertake information dissemination and education campaigns on environmental health programs to create greater awareness on environmental health control measures;

d. Coordinate, assist, and/or support the conduct of researches and relevant activities for environmental maintenance and protection; and

e. Perform such other tasks as may be necessary and incidental to carry out the provisions of this Executive Order and the purpose for which the Committee had been established.

Section 3. The Committee shall promulgate the necessary implementing guidelines for the accomplishment of the objectives of this Executive Order.

Section 4. The Committee is hereby authorized to call on and mobilize any government agency or instrumentality, including local government units and government-owned or controlled corporations, and also non-governmental agencies or institutions, for support and assistance in the implementation of this Executive Order.

Section 5. The Committee shall be assisted by a Secretariat to be headed by the Director of the Environmental Health Service, Office for Public Health Services, Department of Health.

Section 6. The amount of One Million Pesos is hereby allotted out of the emergency funds of the Office of the President for 1992 to carry out the provisions of this Executive Order. Thereafter, the subsequent budget shall be incorporated in the General Appropriations Act under the operating expenses of the Office for Public Health Services, Department of Health.

Section 7. This Executive Order shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 22nd day of November, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and ninety-one.

(Sgd.) CORAZON C. AQUINO

By the President:

(Sgd.) FRANKLIN M. DRILON

Executive Secretary