[ Commonwealth Act No. 715, November 01, 1945 ]

AN ACT TO CREATE A COMMISSION ON REPARATIONS

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled:SECTION 1. There is hereby created a "Commission on Reparations" to be composed of five members who shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the approval of the Commission on Appointments, which shall act as a fact-finding body as well as an agency to determine the most appropriate ways and means of securing indemnity for losses caused by the Japanese Armed Forces in the Philippines.SEC. 2. The Commission on Reparations shall: (a) gather all the necessary data concerning the damages and losses caused to Government property, industrial plants, farm crops, work animals, agricultural equipment, commercial enterprises and private buildings and homes; (b) investigate cases of seizure and confiscation of all forms of property by Japanese Armed Forces and by business or organizations wholly or partly promoted by the government of Japan; (c) consider the loss of civillian lives caused by action of the Japanese military forces in violation of international law; (d) study different sources of possible reparation such as (1) property owned by Japanese subjects in the Philippines; (2) factory equipment in Japan which may be useful in the Philippines in the manufacture of textiles, tools and electrical appliances, shipyard and dock installations; (e) determine the amount of paper currency notes circulated by the Japanese Armed Forces in all areas of the Philippines occupied by them.SEC. 3. The members of the Commission who are not officials of the Philippine Government shall be paid the compensation of twenty pesos for every day of session actually attended by them.SEC. 4. The President of the Philippines is hereby authorized to furnish the Commission the necessary personnel and equipment, and he may furthermore assign any official or employee of the Government to render service to the Commission.SEC. 5. The Commission shall have authority to call upon any official or any agency of the Government to furnish pertinent data and necessary assistance.SEC. 6. The report of the Commission on Reparations shall be used as a basis of the claim of the Philippines for indemnity and reparations from the government and people of Japan which the Government of the Philippines shall present in the conference of the Allied Nations at which the indemnity and reparations to be exacted from Japan will be determined.SEC. 7. There is hereby provided out of any funds not otherwise appropriated the sum of ten thousand pesos for the expenses of the Commission herein created.SEC. 8. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.Approved, November 1, 1945.

Source: Supreme Court E-Library