Republic of the Philippines me AS x
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |; -
Quezon City i
PIPTEENTH CONGRESS
Eee AR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. — 1613

EXPLANATORY NOTE

‘The number of schoo! facilities built has not met the yearly building requirements caused
by increases in enrollment. As a result, the backlog of classroom has increased, ortage in
the number of public school buildings in our country has always been a perennial problem
associated with the deteriorating quality of our yducation system,

‘Today, the national classroom-student ratio for elementary and secondary public schools
is a staggering 1:65, due largely to the free education program, which has not been met by a
corresponding increase in the number of classrooms. With only Php2.5 Billion allocated for
school buildings in the 2003 GAA, the backlog of school rooms will increase to 30,100
classrooms by the end of 2000. To attain the ideal classroom-student ratio in the next five (5)
years, a total of 129,000 new classrooms have to be constructed excluding those that have to be
rehabilitated :

‘The bill seeks to create a comprehensive program which will address the problem of
classroom shortage. A salient feature of this bill is the provision of build-operate-transfer, build-
lease-transfer, build-transfer, rehabilitate-operate-transfer, and other contractual arrangements
that will allow the use of both government and private funds to finance the construction of
needed school buildings, and the creation of an inter-agency committee to formulate and ensure
the effective implementation of the program by the Department of Education (DepEd). The
program also provide for the integration of all the necessary information for the effective
monitoring and maintenance of existing school buildings.

It is hoped that with the passage of this bill, class sizes will be reduced to a manageable
level for a more conducive learning environment and thus result in the improvement in the
quality of our education.

For the abovementioned reasons, approval of this bill is earnestly sought

MA. MILAGROS H. MAGSAYSAY
Representative
1" District, Province of Zambales


Republic of the Philippines’
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS

FIRST RECULAR SESSION
ip lee

1613

MOUSE BILL NO. _

Introduced by Hon. Rep. Mari Milagros I. Magsaysay

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING A PROGRAM FOR THE ACQUISITION OF
SCHOOL SITES AND THE CONSTRUCTION,
MAINTENANCE, REHABILITATION, AND REPAIR OF
SCHOOL BUILDINGS IN THE PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND
SECONDARY SCHOOLS NATIONWIDE, APPROPRIATING
FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines. in
Congress Assembled: .

SECTION 1. Title. = This Act shall be known as the “Schoo! Building
Program Act of 2004”. tJ
d
SEC. 2. School Building Program Objectives, - There shall be established a

comprehensive and continuing Schoo! Building Program, hereinafter referred to as the
“Program”, which shall have the following objectives:

1. To provide a system for an accurate inventory of all existing public primary and
secondary school buildings, with proper indications as to its location, size,
capacity, condition, and compliance with basic building safety requirements;

2. To provide appropriate studies for determining the yearly school building
requirements based on projected increases in enrollment and other appropriate
indicators;

3. To provide for the effective monitoring and supervision of all school building
facilities with respect to its proper and adequate maintenance, replacement,

rehabilitation and repair;



4. To provide a comprehensive plan for the acquisition and/or construction and
adequate school sites, buildings and facilities for all public elementary and
secondary schools nationwide, with the aim of reducing the classroom-students
ratio to an ideal proportion within a period of five (5) years upon approval of this
Act;

5. To provide the mechanism for the selection of public schools to prioritize in the
school-building projects nationwide;

6. To provide a specific time schedule for the construction of school buildings
which shall be strictly followed so as to prevent unnecessary delays and backlogs;

To provide for necessary mechanisms which will facilitate a closer coordination
between the Department of Budget and Management, Department of Public
Works and Highways, Department of Interior and Local Government, and
Department of Education, Culture and Sports to expedite the implementation of
the Program;

8. To formulate guidelines for the bidding procedures that will be used for the
school building program including that of the contractual arrangement schemes;

9 To .provide for a definite wofk and financial schedule for the construction,
operation and maintenance of school buildings wider any of the contractual

arrangement schemes.

s)

implementation of the program, there is hereby created an inter-agency.committee, to be headed

«5. Inter-Agency Committee. - To formulate and ensure the effective

by the Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) as Chairperson, and the respective
Secretaries of the Department of Pubic Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Budget
and Management (DBM), and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), as
members. ‘The committee shall within one (1) year from the approval of this Act, submit to the
Committee on Education of both houses of Congress and every year thereatter, the

comprehensive school-building program herein established

SEC. 4. Implementation of the Program. - Consistent with the provisions of

Republic Act No. 7880, otherwise known as the “Fa

and Equitable Access to Education Act”,
the Committee shall determine and supervise the acquisition and/or construction of priority
school building projects to be implemented by the DECS as provided in the Program. ‘The
DECS is hereby authorized to enter into contracts with duly pre-qualified private contractors for
the design and construction management, as well-as the financing, construction, operation,

maintenance of school buildings through the build operate and transfer, build and transfer, build-


lease and transfer, rehabilitate-operate and transfer and other contractual arrangement schemes

provided under R.A. No. 6957.

SEC. 5. Release of Maintenance and Other Operating Expenditures. - For the
purpose of ensuring compliance of such contractual arrangement as may hereinafter be entered,

the appropriation of DECS for the School Building Program and for Maintenance and other

Operating Expenditures shall be directly released to DECS. according to the work and financial

schedule stipulated in the program.

SEC. 6. Appropriation. - The amount necessary to attain the objectives of this

Act shall be authorized to be appropriated out of the unallocated share of the national
government in the income of the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), for a

period of five (5) years,

If the above amount is inadequate and insufficient, such amount as may be necessary 10

augment said annual appropriations shall be included in the General Appropriations Act.
4

SEC. 7. Separability Clause. - If any provision in this Act is declared
unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the validity and effectivity of the other provisions

hereof.

SEC. 8. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations and
all other issuances or parts th-reof, which are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed ot

modified accordingly. a

SEC. 9. Effectivity Clause. - This Act s

all take effect upon its approval

Approved,