Section 1. Section eight, Republic Act Numbered Sixty-five, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 8. For a period of three years from the time of the passage of this Act, the persons mentioned in sections one and two hereof shall, all other qualifications being equal:

"(1) Have preference in appointments and promotions in and to any Government office, agency or instrumentality, or in and to any Government-owned or subsidized corporation, the provisions of law as to civil service eligibility notwithstanding: Provided, That in examinations where experience is an element of qualification the time spent in the military or naval service of the United States or of the Philippines shall be credited in a veterans' rating where his actual employment in a similar vocation to that for which he is examined was interrupted by such military or naval service.

"(2) Have preference to purchase public lands and Government-owned or managed agricultural farms or subdivisions, to obtain homesteads, concessions and franchises, and other privileges for the exploitation of the national resources which are permissible and made available by existing law or the like; and

"(3) Have preference to purchase enemy and war surplus properties of any nature whatsoever which the Government may sell.

"The rights and privileges provided in paragraphs two and three of this section may be extended by the President, upon the recommendation of the Board, to Filipino officers and enlisted men who have served with the forces of Liberation of the United States Army in the Philippines or who have served elsewhere in the Army, Naval or Air Forces of the United States or of any allied nation during the war and have established their bona fide intention to be repatriated to or established in their homes in the Philippines and to veterans of Philippine revolutions against Spain and the United States.

"It shall be the duty of all heads of branches, departments, bureaus, offices, and agencies of the Government, including its political subdivisions, and of Government owned or subsidized corporations to comply with provisions of this section."

Sec. 2. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 14, 1947