Letter of Instruction No. 26 (Marcos)

LETTER OF INSTRUCTION No. 26

Pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081 dated September 21, 1972, declaring a state of martial law, and in my capacity as Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines and in order to prevent the escape from the country of persons who are known to be actively engaged or suspected to be actively engaged in a criminal conspiracy to seize political and state power in the Philippines and to take over the Government by force and violence the extent of which has now assumed the proportion of an actual war against our people and their legitimate Government, you are hereby ordered to continue to require that prior clearance of your Department be secured by any citizen of the Philippines or foreign national who wish to depart for abroad, except those covered by the following categories:


 * 1) Members of the diplomatic corps and/or their foreign staffs;
 * 2) Foreigners who came to the Philippines as tourists;
 * 3) Permanent residents of foreign countries, whether nationals of the Philippines or not, who are returning to their respective countries of residence;
 * 4) Immigrants and their direct dependents;
 * 5) Government officials or employees being sent abroad in the service of the Republic of the Philippines, as authorized by the Office of the President;
 * 6) Scholars of the Philippine Government being sent for schooling abroad under a foreign government grant;
 * 7) Scholars being sent abroad under the auspices of international bodies like the UN and UN bodies, SEATO, ASEAN, ASPAC or under the Colombo Plan and other like Exchange Programmers, fellowships, traineeships of courses, as approved by the Special Committee on Scholarships, National Economic Council;
 * 8) Those whose projected travel for abroad is in acceptance of an invitation to attend international conferences such as those of the UN and UN bodies, SEATO, ASEAN, ASPAC, and like conferences, under Agreements entered into by the Philippine Government;
 * 9) Officials and employees of international organizations such as the ADB, ECAFE, ILO, USAID, WHO, IAEA, FAO, UNESCO, WMO, GATT, ASEAN, SEATO and like organizations;
 * 10) Bona fide officers and crew members of international air carrier or inter-ocean going vessels or of any Philippine commercial watercraft or aircraft duly authorized to undertake foreign travels at this time or may hereafter be authorized by the Philippine Government,
 * 11) Filipino citizens in active military service with the United States Armed Forces and their direct dependents; and
 * 12) Foreigners who are treaty traders recognized by international conventions/practices.

In all such exceptional cases, the proper government agencies shall nonetheless continue to insure that the usual requisites for foreign travels, such as NBI and BIR clearances and passports and the like are complied with.

It is the essence of these Instructions to spare those enumerated under the exceptional cases above from undue inconvenience, while at the same time limiting foreign travels to extremely necessary and/or that will entail minimal or no expense to the Philippine government.

This Order shall remain effective for the duration of the present national emergency or until otherwise ordered by me or by my duly designated representative.

Done in the City of Manila, this 14th day of October, in the year of our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy two.

Rh