To develop and expand the metals industry of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 4724, dated June 18, 1966, established the Metals Industry Development Center (MIDC). The Center was primarily tasked to work for close rapport between the government and the industry in order to foster the advancement of metals engineering, and allied industries in the country.
This was amended by Republic Act No. 6428, dated May 31, 1972, reorganizing and renaming the MIDC into Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC), giving it corporate existence and enlarging its powers. The administration of the Center and the exercise of its corporate authority were vested exclusively in a Board of Trustees organized under this Act.
Later presidential issuances reflected the Center's change of thrust and direction. These were Executive Order No. 602, transferring the MIRDC from the then National Science Development Board (now Department of Science & Technology) to the then Ministry of Trade & Industry (now Department of Trade & Industry) for policy and program coordination and direction; Presidential Decree No. 1765, reorienting its thrust from research and development to direct assistance to the metals industry; and Executive Order No. 128, transferring the Center from the Department of Trade & Industry to the Department of Science & Technology as a separate and attached agency.
Finally, Executive Order No. 494 dated December 6, 1991 transformed the MIRDC into a regular government agency attached to the Department of Science and Technology. This was fully implemented on 27 May 1993.
Metals Industry Research and Development Center