Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 1888)
The primary policy of Republic Act No. 1888 is to foster, accelerate, and accomplish the moral, material, economic, social, and political advancement of the Non-Christian Filipinos or National Cultural Minorities and to achieve their complete integration into the body politic.
The Commission on National Integration was created to effectuate the policy of advancing and integrating the National Cultural Minorities into the body politic by addressing their economic, educational, social, and political problems.
The Commission is composed of a Chairman and two Associate Commissioners appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments. They are selected based on expert knowledge of the customs and social organizations of the National Cultural Minorities.
The Chairman has the rank and pay of a Secretary of Department and is a member of the Cabinet. Each Associate Commissioner receives an annual compensation of seven thousand two hundred pesos.
Key powers include establishing agricultural and industrial enterprises, constructing infrastructure like irrigation systems and electric power, promoting education and community life, granting scholarships, and aiding in the settlement of landless members of the National Cultural Minorities.
The Commission is the custodian, administrator, and in charge of disposition of public lands in provinces and regions inhabited by National Cultural Minorities, including lands reserved for settlement, townsites, roads, and agricultural lands surveyed and subdivided under Commonwealth Act No. 691 as amended.
No officer or employee of the Commission is permitted to acquire, directly or indirectly, any land within the land settlement projects of the Commission. Violations result in immediate removal and fines ranging from one thousand to five thousand pesos.
They shall be dismissed from office and fined up to five thousand pesos.
No, and violating this prohibition results in immediate removal and fines from one thousand to five thousand pesos.
No fee, commission, gift, or charge of any kind shall be exacted, demanded, or paid for obtaining loans, and any officer or employee who exacts such fees shall be fined from five hundred to three thousand pesos.