Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 3852)
The Commissioner on National Integration shall have the rank and pay of a Secretary of Department and shall be a member of the Cabinet. Additionally, each Associate Commissioner shall receive an annual compensation of seven thousand eight hundred pesos.
The Chairman of the Commission on National Integration acts as the chief executive of the Commission and has the powers generally conferred on heads of Departments.
The Chairman equitably distributes the work of the Commission among the Associate Commissioners and other employees and ensures they perform their duties effectively.
A majority of the members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business during meetings.
The Commission has the power to acquire, lease, or own real and personal property as it deems necessary and to sell or otherwise dispose of the same.
The new powers include: (n) approving conveyances of real property in provinces inhabited by national cultural minorities involving illiterate or linguistically challenged parties; (o) authorizing trial lawyers to assist indigent cultural minority members in criminal cases regarding their landholdings; (p) authorizing personnel to administer oaths in investigations; and (q) promulgating rules and regulations necessary for implementing the Act.
The Commission is the exclusive custodian and administrator in charge of subdivision, allocation, and distribution of public lands reserved for settlements, townsites, roads, agricultural lands, and lands within forest zones occupied by national cultural minorities as specified in the Act.
There is an appropriation of not less than five million pesos annually for ten years starting fiscal year 1964, with at least three million seven hundred thousand pesos dedicated to agricultural settlements, industrial and agricultural enterprises, cottage industries, loans, supplies, and other related purposes.
Any laws, rules, regulations, or executive orders contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are repealed.
The law took effect upon its approval on May 4, 1964.