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EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS )
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES }
‘Second Regular Session

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez

House Bill No. 8418
EXPLANATORY NOTE
Article XIV, Section 2, Paragraph (1) of the 1987 Constitution provides:

SECTION 2. The State shall:

(1) Establish, mainiain, and support a compiete, 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 (COP!) under the supervision of the Technical Education and Skills
Development Authority (TESDA). The conversion shall establish COP! 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 COP! 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. iUEZ


EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS )
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES )
Second Regular Session )

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez

House Bili No. 8418

AN ACT
CONVERTING THE CAGAYAN DE ORO (BUGO) SCHOOL OF ARTS AND TRADES
(COBSAT) IN THE CITY OF CAGAYAN DE ORO, PROVINCE OF MISAMIS ORIENTAL,
INTO A POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE TO BE KNOWN AS THE CAGAYAN DE ORO
POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE (COPI), 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 Act’.

SEC. 2. Conversion. - The Cagayan de Oro (Bugo) School of Arts and Trades
(COBSAT) located in Cagayan de Oro City, Province of Misamis Oriental, is hereby converted
into the Cagayan de Oro Polytechnic Institute (COP!) under the supervision and administration
of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

SEC. 3. General Mandate. - The Cagayan de Oro Polytechnic Institute, hereinafter
referred to as the Institute, shall restructure its technical-vocational education and training
(TVET) programs to effect a major curricular shift in response to the demand of the local and
international labor market for technical skills, and align them with the standards of the industry.

To this end, the Institute shall upgrade its curricular standards as a tertiary TESDA-
polytechnic skills educational institution and provide higher level competency qualifications for
instructors in TESDA-registered TVET programs and certificate courses. It shall provide a wide
array of relevant skills trainings and trade specialization courses that will 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 Institute, including availment of scholarships, grants-in-aid
and 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 Institute shall serve as a TESDA-accredited assessment center for acquired
competencies in TVET programs in Cagayan de Oro City and the Province of Misamis
Oriental. It shall also provide teachers’ training and curriculum design assistance to the
secondary schools offering the technical-vocational livelihood track under the K to 12 Program
in coordination with the Department of Education (DepEd), the TESDA, and the Department
of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

SEC. 4. Curricular Offerings/Training Programs —The Institute shall offer one-year
to three-year TESDA-registered TVET programs and undergraduate certificate courses,
including short-term courses and modular trainings in preferred technical-vocational skills

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‘specialization. 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 to enable the Center to develop skilled
manpower to achieve a robust and inclusive economy in the host area and its adjacent
localities.

The Institute 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 in order to better provide
residents of Cagayan de Oro City and the adjacent localities in the Province of Misamis
Oriental with practical livelihood, employable skills, and entrepreneurial capabilities.

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 Institute.

Course completion at the Institute shall be credited through skills competency
assessment under National Certification (NC) Levels Ill to V. When applicable, TVET
competency shall qualify for academic degree recognition pursuant to Republic Act No. 10647,
otherwise known as the “Ladderized Education Act”.

The Institute 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:

(2) 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;

(©) 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, agri-aque trade technology and innovations, and
relevant farmers and fisherfolk’s trainings for increased productivity and
entrepreneurship;

(4) 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 inciuding registration, licensing, documentation, business patent and
intellectual property regulation, business financing and investment opportunities
sourcing, import-export accreditation, online home-based business operation, and
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, digital technology, web
design, animation, photoshop/online photography, computer design, and advertising;

(h) Social communication skills and language proficiency courses in English and other
languages for business process outsourcing employment and overseas job placement;

() Seminars on personality development, career counseling, job placement, and work
ethic and values; and

(i) Other preferred skills and trades training that may be needed by the people of Cagayan
de Oro City and the adjacent localities in the Province of Misamis Oriental to enhance
their capacities for practical livelihood, gainful employment, and entrepreneurial
activities.

‘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 determination and certification by the TESDA, through the issuance of a formal
recommendation and certificate of compliance, that the Institute has satisfactorily complied
with the minimum requirements for standards of quality prescribed by the TESDA governing
the following : a) standard procedures and guidelines for the conversion and operation of a
TESDA polytechnic institute; b) operational sustainability of the Institute in terms of licensed
faculty-trainers and personnel, equipment, training and laboratory facilities, instructional
materials, and other standard requirements| of TESDA-accredited and supervised school; c)
sustainable funding source and regular allocation of budgetary requirement; 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 (ASEAN) 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 Institute shall be headed by a Vocational School
‘Superintendent under the supervision of the TESDA, who shall render full-time service and be
responsible for its administration and operation. The Vocational School Superintendent shall
be appointed by the TESDA Director General in accordance with the rules and regulations of
the Civil Service Commission and the qualification requirements for such office.

The Schoo! Superintendent shall enter into agreement with locally-based private and
public counterpart agencies or instrumentalities and persons, subject to the approval of the
‘TESDA Director General, for such assistance as may be necessary to effectively implement
this Act.

The academic and administrative staff of the Institute shall be organized following the
staffing pattern of TESDA for such type of schools, pursuant to existing laws, rules and
regulations.

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 Institute: Provided, That the positions, rights and security of tenure of faculty
and personnel therein employed prior to its conversion into the Institute, shall not be impaired,
pursuant to existing laws,

All parcels of land belonging to the government occupied by the COBSAT shall
henceforth be declared the property of the Institute and shall be titled under that name:

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Provided, That, should the Institute cease to exist or such aforementioned parcels of land be
no longer needed by the Institute, the same shall revert to the concerned local government
unit (LGU).

SEC. 8. Appropriations. - The Director General of the TESDA shall include in the
Authority's program the operation of the Institute, 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, the
Department of Budget and Management, DILG, NEDA, the concerned LGUs, and such other
relevant agencies and industry-business partners of the host locality, prepare and issue the
necessary 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,