TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) 
First Regular Session 
) 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez and 
Representative Maximo B. Rodriguez, Jr. 
House Bill No.  _____
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
This bill was approved by the House of Representatives during the 19th Congress. 
Article XIV, Section 2, Paragraph (1) of the 1987 Constitution provides: 
SECTION 2. The State shall: 
(1) Establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and
integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people
and society;
This bill seeks to convert the Cagayan de Oro (Bugo) School of Arts and Trades (COBSAT) 
located in Cagayan de Oro City, Province of Misamis Oriental, into the Cagayan de Oro 
Polytechnic Institute (COPI) under the supervision of the Technical Education and Skills 
Development Authority (TESDA). The conversion shall establish COPI as a globally 
competitive institution by providing relevant technical and vocational programs that shall be 
made available to the people of Cagayan de Oro City. 
It is worth noting that polytechnic institutes are included in the priority legislative agenda of 
TESDA and also consistent with the ''TESDA Abot Lahat"' advocacy campaign. 
Graduates of the COPI shall be exposed to diverse opportunities in the domestic and in the 
international labor market. Further, it will highly contribute to the economy of the City. 
In view of the foregoing, immediate approval of this measure is earnestly requested. 
RUFUS B. RODRIGUEZ 
July 1, 2025
5:08 pm
998 


TWENTIETH CONGRESS   
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) 
First Regular Session  
 
) 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez and 
Representative Maximo B. Rodriguez, Jr. 
House Bill No.  _____
AN ACT 
CONVERTING THE CAGAYAN DE ORO (BUGO) SCHOOL OF ARTS AND TRADES IN 
THE CITY OF CAGAYAN DE ORO, PROVINCE OF MISAMIS ORIENTAL, INTO A 
POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION TO BE ADMINISTERED AND SUPERVISED BY THE 
TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, TO BE KNOWN 
AS THE CAGAYAN DE ORO POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS 
THEREFOR 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. – This Act shall be known as the “Cagayan de Oro Polytechnic 
Institute (COPI) Act.” 
SEC. 2. Conversion. – The Cagayan de Oro School of Arts and Trades (COBSAT) located in 
the City of Cagayan de Oro, Province of Misamis Oriental, is hereby converted into a 
polytechnic institute under the supervision and administration of the Technical Education and 
Skills Development Authority (TESDA), to be known as the “Cagayan de Oro Polytechnic 
Institute (COPI)”. 
SEC. 3. General Mandate. – The COPI shall restructure its technical-vocational education and 
training (TVET) curricular programs to respond to the needs of the local and international labor 
markets for technical skills, and align curriculum with current international skill standards. 
To this end, the COPI shall upgrade its curricular standards as a post-secondary 
polytechnic skills educational institution and provide higher level competency qualifications for 
instructors in TESDA-registered TVET programs and certificate courses. It shall provide 
relevant skills trainings and trade specialization courses to facilitate the acquisition by the 
citizenry of the necessary technical skills that will enhance their access to gainful employment, 
practical livelihood, and entrepreneurial opportunities, and thus hasten the development of the 
host area and the adjacent localities in the Province of Misamis Oriental into human resource 
and productivity hubs. 
Priority admission to the COPI, including availment of scholarships, grants-in-aid and 
other forms of student financial assistance, shall be given to the most economically-
disadvantaged students, out-of-school youths, persons with disabilities, and indigenous 
peoples in Cagayan de Oro City and the adjacent localities in the Province of Misamis Oriental 
to ensure their development into productive and globally competitive skilled labor assets. 
The COPI shall serve as a TESDA-accredited assessment center, subject to the 
accreditation requirements under the Philippine TVET Competency Assessment and 
Certification System, for acquired competencies in TVET programs in the Province of Misamis 
Oriental. It shall also provide teachers' training and assistance to secondary schools offering 
the technical-vocational livelihood track under the K to 12 Program in the area of curriculum 
designing, in coordination with the Department of Education, the TESDA and the Department 
of Labor and Employment (DOLE). 
998


 
SEC. 4. Curricular Offerings and Training Programs. – The COPI shall offer TESDA registered 
TVET programs, undergraduate certificate courses, and short-term courses and modular 
trainings on preferred technical-vocational skills. It shall aim to meet the competency 
requirements under Level V of the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF), which is the 
diploma level in TVET. 
To this end, the DOLE, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of 
Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of the Interior 
and Local Government (DILG), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), 
business-industry partners, and other relevant agencies and instrumentalities, both local and 
international, shall provide the necessary assistance so the COPI can produce skilled 
manpower to supply the needs of a robust and inclusive economy. 
The COPI may establish research and technology hubs, technology development 
farms, satellite or extension training centers, promote mobile training programs, and 
strengthen linkages with industry partners and the academe. 
It shall also adopt the use of innovative training modes such as information technology-
assisted instruction, dual learning system, open or distance education, community laboratory, 
and such other instructional programs that will allow local residents greater access to TVET 
program offerings of the COPI. 
Course completion at the COPI shall be credited after a skills competency assessment 
under National Certification Levels III to V. When applicable, TVET competency shall qualify 
a student for academic degree recognition under the ladderized interface system for tertiary 
education, provided that the requirements of the Commission on Higher Education are 
complied with. 
The COPI shall offer skills development for higher competency qualifications in areas 
relating to technical-industrial education, trade technology, tourism, agricultural technology, 
business literacy, and innovation in TESDA-registered skills courses as follows: 
 
(a) Skills training in industrial technology and hard trades such as metal and steelwork, 
machine fabrication and operation, heavy equipment operation, automotive mechanical 
assembly, refrigeration and air conditioning, electronics, and operation of power tools and 
equipment for both medium skills grade and industrial purposes; 
 
(b) Tourism and hospitality-related courses relating to hotel, restaurant and tourism 
development management; 
 
(c) Agriculture and aquaculture-related trainings and skills development in such areas as 
farming technology, fishing operations technology, backyard farming and home-based 
aquaculture and propagation innovations, mechanized farming, fishing tools and equipment 
operation, agribusiness and agri-aqua trade technology and innovations, and relevant training 
seminars for farmers and fisherfolk to encourage entrepreneurship and thus increase 
productivity; 
 
(d) Livelihood skills development courses for preferred skills employment and small-scale 
entrepreneurship, including practical skills education in arts and crafts, workmanship and 
design, high-speed sewing, dressmaking and tailoring, horticulture, livestock raising and 
breeding, food processing technology, home technology, culinary arts and commercial 
cooking, cosmetology, and health and wellness training; 
 
(e) Basic business literacy training in financial management, marketing, practical accountancy, 
bookkeeping, office procedures, business processes and application procedures, including 
registration, licensing, documentation, business patent and intellectual property regulation, 
business financing and investment opportunities sourcing, import-export accreditation, online 
home-based business operation, and use of social media business marketing; 
 


 
(f) Technical-vocational occupation and trades skills such as carpentry, masonry, plumbing, 
welding, practical electricity and installation, automotive servicing, electronics servicing, 
personal computer servicing, and such other relevant practical skills courses; 
 
(g) Computer literacy and information technology-related skills, basic computer operation, web 
development, digital animation, game development and computer aided design application; 
 
(h) Social communication skills development and language proficiency courses in English and 
other languages for business process outsourcing employment and overseas job placement; 
 
(i) Seminars on personality development, career counseling and job placement, and work ethic 
and values; and 
 
(j) Other preferred priority skills and trades training that may be needed by the people of 
Cagayan de Oro City and the adjacent localities to enhance their capacities for practical 
livelihood, gainful employment and entrepreneurship skills.  
 
SEC. 5. Compliance with TESDA Requirements. – The provisions of this Act notwithstanding, 
the conversion of the COBSAT into the COPI shall become operational only upon the issuance 
by the TESDA of a formal recommendation and certificate of compliance attesting that the 
COPI has satisfactorily complied with the minimum standards of quality it has prescribed 
governing the following: a) standard procedures and guidelines for the conversion and 
operation of a TESDA polytechnic institute; b) operational sustainability of the COPI in terms 
of licensed faculty-trainers and personnel, equipment, training and laboratory facilities, 
instructional materials, and other standard requirements of a TESDA-accredited and 
supervised school; c) sustainable funding source and regular allocation of budgetary 
requirement for TESDA-operated schools; d) full alignment of the training programs offered 
with the minimum standards of competency-based quality technical-vocational technology 
skills and the needs of the host area and adjacent localities served within the context of the 
Association of Southeast Asian Nations integration and the PQF for TVET; and e) compliance 
with such other TESDA conditionalities and standards, as may be necessary and applicable, 
on the conversion of the COBSAT. 
 
SEC. 6. Administration. – The COPI shall be headed by a School Superintendent under the 
supervision of the TESDA, who shall render full-time service and be responsible for its 
administration and operation. The School Superintendent shall be appointed by the TESDA 
Director General in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Civil Service Commission 
(CSC) and the qualification requirements for such office. 
The School Superintendent shall pursue cooperative undertakings and partnerships 
with locally-based private and public institutions, counterpart agencies or instrumentalities, 
and other persons as may be necessary to effectively implement this Act, subject to the 
approval of the TESDA Director General. 
The academic and administrative staff of the COPI shall be organized following the 
staffing pattern of the TESDA for such type of schools, pursuant to existing laws, rules and 
regulations of the CSC. 
 
SEC. 7. Assets, Liabilities and Personnel. – All assets, fixed and movable, personnel, records 
and documents, as well as the liabilities or obligations of the COBSAT, shall be transferred to 
the COPI: Provided, That the positions, rights and security of tenure of faculty and personnel 
therein employed prior to its conversion into the COPI, shall not be impaired, pursuant to 
existing laws. 
All parcels of land belonging to the government occupied by the COBSAT are 
henceforth declared as property of the COPI and shall be titled under that name: Provided, 
That should the COPI cease to exist or such aforementioned parcels of land be no longer 


 
needed by the COPI, the same shall revert to the local government unit (LGU) concerned, or 
to the City of Cagayan de Oro, Province of Misamis Oriental. 
 
SEC. 8. Appropriations. – The amount necessary for the initial funding of the operations of the 
COPI shall be charged against the current year’s appropriations of the COBSAT. Thereafter, 
the funding of which shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act. 
 
SEC. 9. Implementing Rules and Regulations. – Within ninety (90) days after the approval of 
this Act, the TESDA shall, in coordination with the DOLE, DTI, DOST, DA, DBM, DILG, NEDA, 
the concerned LGUs, and such other relevant agencies and industry-business partners of the 
host locality, prepare and issue rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this 
Act. 
 
SEC. 10. Separability Clause. – If, for any reason, any section or provision of this Act shall be 
deemed unconstitutional or invalid, the other sections or provisions hereof shall not be affected 
and shall remain in force and in effect. 
 
SEC. 11. Repealing Clause. – All laws, executive orders, decrees, instructions, rules and 
regulations contrary to or inconsistent with any provision of this Act are repealed or amended 
accordingly. 
 
SEC. 12. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the 
Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation. 
 
Approved,