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Executive Order 9818 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.29) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 9818—Establishing the Philippine Alien Property Administration and Defining Its Functions

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Tuesday, January 7, 1947
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6 min read (1,142 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 6 min read (1,142 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is established in the Office for Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President the Philippine Alien Property Administration, at the head of which shall be a Philippine Alien Property Administrator appointed by the President, without regard to the civil service laws.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President Harry S Truman on January 7, 1947, this order concerns Establishing the Philippine Alien Property Administration and Defining Its Functions. In the interest of the internal management of the Government, as follows: 1. There is established in the Office for Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President the Philippine Alien Property Administration, at the head of which shall be a Philippine Alien Property Administrator appointed by the President, without regard to the civil service laws.

Constitutional Assessment: Scrutinized through Article II, Section 2, this action exercises the President's constitutional role as Commander in Chief. Early Framers recognized broad executive discretion in commanding military forces during conflict, provided it remains bounded by congressional declarations and respects civilian domestic courts.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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There is established in the Office for Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President the Philippine Alien Property Administration, at the head of which shall be a Philippine Alien Property Administrator appointed by the President, without regard to the civil service laws.

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The Philippine Alien Property Administrator shall receive compensation at such rate as the President shall approve and in addition shall be entitled to actual and necessary transportation, housing, subsistence, and other expenses incidental to the performance of his duties.

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Within the limitation of such funds as may be made available for that purpose, and without regard to the civil service laws, the Philippine Alien Property Administrator may appoint assistants and other personnel and delegate to them such functions as he may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this order.

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Such personnel of the Office of Alien Property, Department of Justice, as are engaged in the exercise of the functions transferred hereunder, may be transferred to the Philippine Alien Property Administration without loss of such civil-service status or eligibility therefor as they may possess.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
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The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority)
§

"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
AH

Alexander Hamilton

The Energetic Executive & Unified Command

"The direction of war implies the direction of the common strength; and the power of directing and employing the common strength must be under the direction of the single hand of the Executive." — Federalist No. 74 (1788)

Hamilton would forcefully champion executive discretion here. For foreign entanglements, commerce defense, and national security, deliberative assemblies are too slow and faction-ridden. A unified, energetic Executive exercising swift command is precisely what the Philadelphia Convention intended for national preservation.

Hamiltonian Stance: Strong Prerogative Support
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The president will be surrounded by flatterers and sycophants... and the great powers of the executive will gradually absorb the liberties of the people." — Cato IV (Anti-Federalist, 1787)

The Anti-Federalist prism advises continuous democratic vigilance. Even routine administrative directives aggregate centralized federal power away from town halls and state assemblies toward a distant executive apparatus.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Eternal Vigilance Required
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Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
40 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

Moderate Friction

Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
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How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
1,142
7,198 characters
Estimated Read Time
6 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
25.4
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.29
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority VESTED IN ME BY THE Constitution and statues including the Trading with the Enemy Act of October 6, 1917, 40 Stat. 411, as amended, the Philippine Property Act of 1946, 60 Stat, 418, the First War Powers Act, 1941, 55 Stat. 838, as amended, section 1753 of the Revised Statutes, and the Civil Service Act, 22 Stat. 403, and as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered, in the interest of the internal management of the Government, as follows: 1. There is established in the Office for Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President the Philippine Alien Property Administration, at the head of which shall be a Philippine Alien Property Administrator appointed by the President, without regard to the civil service laws. The Philippine Alien Property Administrator shall receive compensation at such rate as the President shall approve and in addition shall be entitled to actual and necessary transportation, housing, subsistence, and other expenses incidental to the performance of his duties. Within the limitation of such funds as may be made available for that purpose, and without regard to the civil service laws, the Philippine Alien Property Administrator may appoint assistants and other personnel and delegate to them such functions as he may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this order. Such personnel of the Office of Alien Property, Department of Justice, as are engaged in the exercise of the functions transferred hereunder, may be transferred to the Philippine Alien Property Administration without loss of such civil-service status or eligibility therefor as they may possess. Any employee of a department or agency of the Federal Government who possesses special qualifications or experience of particular use to the Philippine Alien Property Administrator may, upon request by the Philippine Alien Property Administrator, be transferred with his consent and that of the department or agency in which he is employed, without loss of such civilian-service status or eligibility therefor as such person may possess, to a position under the Philippine Alien Property Administrator. Upon application for re-employment made to the original employing department or agency within ninety days after termination of the service of the employee in the position to which he is transferred under the provisions of this section, and upon presentation of a statement by the Philippine Alien Property Administrator or his authorized representatives, reciting the date of termination of such service, that the services of such employee have been satisfactory and that such termination was not the result of delinquency or misconduct on the part of the employee, such employee shall, if qualified to perform the duties of his position, be reemployed in his original position or in a position of like seniority, status and pay, so long as the position the employee left, or one of like seniority, status, and pay is occupied by an employee with lower retention preference. 2. The Philippine Alien Property Administrator is hereby designated to exercise and perform, and there are hereby transferred to him, such rights, privileges, powers, authority, duties and functions, with respect to property located within the Philippines and property transferred pursuant to section 3 hereof, as were vested in or transferred or delegated to the Alien Property Custodian by the Trading with the Enemy Act, as amended, the Philippine Property Act of 1946, Executive Order 9095 of March 11, 1942, as amended, Executive Order 9141 of April 21, 1942, and Executive Order 9725 of May 16, 1946 3. The Attorney General, or such officer or agency of the Department of Justice as he may designate, is authorized and directed to transfer to the Philippine Alien Property Administrator all property or interests vested in or transferred to him which were located in the Philippines at the time of such vesting or transfer, or by the proceeds thereof, subject, however, to such expenses as the Attorney General is authorized to charged against such property or proceeds. Such property or proceeds shall be administered and disposed of under the direction and control of the Philippine Alien Property Administrator in accordance with law. 4. The Philippine Alien Property Administrator shall, except as otherwise agreed to by the Secretary of State, consult with the Secretary of State before vesting any property or interest pursuant to this Executive order. 5. The Attorney General or such officer or agency of the Department of Justice as he may designate, is authorized and directed to transfer to the Philippine Alien Property Administrator such personnel, records, files, furniture, equipment, and supplies as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget may determine to be necessary for the performance of the functions hereby transferred, but the Administrator shall reimburse the Attorney General for the furniture, equipment, and supplies so transferred. 6. The Philippine Alien Property Administrator, to the extent permitted by law, is authorized to pay of out of any funds or property or interested vested in him or transferred to him all necessary expense of the Philippine Alien Property Administration in the performance of the functions hereby transferred: Provided, however, that the Philippine Alien Property Administrator shall submit to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget at such time or times and in such form as the Director shall require, an estimate of general administrative expenses for the remainder of the current fiscal year, and no general administrative expenses authorized to be paid pursuant to this order shall be incurred or paid by the Philippine Alien Property Administrator in excess of the amounts approved by the Bureau of the Budget upon submissions as herein required. All expenses for the current fiscal year shall, in addition, be reported to the Congress as early as practicable, with a request for ratification thereof; and no general administrative expense shall be incurred or paid by the Philippine Alien Property Administrator after the fiscal year ending June 30, 1947, except pursuant to a further annual authorization by the Congress. 7. Paragraph 5 of Executive Order 9141 (7F.R. 2985) is amended to the extent that it requires that litigation under the Trading with the Enemy Act of October 6, 1917, as amended, and the Philippine Property Act of 1946, instituted in the courts of the Philippine Islands prior to July 4, 1946, be conducted under the supervision f the Attorney General. In any such litigation the Philippine Alien Property Administrator may appear personally or though attorneys appointed by him. 8. No action taken by or on behalf of the Alien Property Custodian or the Attorney General as his successor under Executive Order 9747 of July 3, 1946, shall be challenged on the ground that it was within the jurisdiction of the Philippine Alien Property Administrator. 9. This order supersedes Executive Order 9789 of October 14, 1946, entitled "Establishing the Philippine Alien Property Administration and defining its functions." HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

January 7, 1947

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 9818 (Jan. 7, 1947), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9818-establishing-the-philippine-alien-property-administration-and.