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MALACAÑAN PALACE
MANILA

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES

[ Proclamation No. 288, November 15, 2002 ]

DECLARING THE PERIOD FROM NOVEMBER 23 TO 30, 2002, AS THE PHILIPPINE AMATEUR RADIO WEEK

WHEREAS, the Philippine Amateur Radio Association (PARA) was formed in 1932 by radio enthusiasts in the US Army and Philippine Constabulary Signal Corps, and is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year;

WHEREAS, both Filipino and American radio amateurs, building their own equipment, performed a heroic role during the World War II, keeping communications open in the battlefield of Bataan and Corregidor, and between the Philippines and Australia all throughout the war, the first contact with General MacArthur in Australia having been via one civilian radio amateur in Iloilo City (the equipment still on display in an Iloilo museum);

WHEREAS, Filipino radio amateurs have figured prominently in helping ships lost at sea, passengers needing an operation without doctors, and especially American GIs seeking contact with their loved ones in the USA during the Vietnam Tet offensive;

WHEREAS, long before the IT revolution; Filipino radio amateurs have always been the most dependable means of communication, during typhoons, earthquakes, airplane crashes, even today if telephone land lines, cell sites and satellites antennas are out of operation;

WHEREAS, Filipino radio amateurs work the world over and have been the first ambassadors of good will to the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries, as well as to Latin America and Asia, speaking to such famous radio amateurs as Senator Barry Goldwater, King Hussein of Jordan and Prime Minister Abdul Rahman of Malaysia; and

WHEREAS, the Local Government Code stipulates that radio amateurs are the last means of communication when all other communications fail.1aшphi1

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby declare the period from November 23 to 30, 2002 as the Philippine Radio Amateur Week.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Republic of the Philippines to be affixed.

Done in the City of Manila, this 15th day of November, in the year of Our Lord, two thousand and two.

(Sgd.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO

By the President:

(Sgd.) ALBERTO G. ROMULO
Executive Secretary

The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation

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