. Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 4327

Introduced by Representatives Salvador H. Escudero III, Anna York P.
Bondoc, Rufus B. Rodriguez and Marcelino R. Teodoro

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Philippine Public Education System has established school libraries as an
institution to supplement basic books and reading materials to the subject
area text books. School libraries are, however, installed only in secondary
schools and if ever there are libraries in elementary schools, these are smail
and improvised structures erected through the initiative of the school head
and teachers. More often than not, the reading materials that remained for
use over the years in the classroom have become obsolete.

The school libraries are often housed in old and condemned buildings and
housed obsolete books and even old newspapers and magazines so as to have
the structure a semblance of a library. Recognizing this grave problem, the
Department of Education thought of a novel and innovative structure that
could serve as a warehouse of books and other reading materials initially to
create in public schoolchildren the interest for reading with the ultimate
vision of developing children imbued with a genuine habit and love of reading.
This is anchored on the principle of learning that reading ability is a
fundamental skill in problem solving and critical thinking.

This warehouse structure is aptly called Library Hub as distinguished from a
school library because its main objective is to provide reading materials
mostly in the form of story books which are stored in plastic bins ready for
lending and distribution to public schools wanting to use the books as
supplementary reading materials.

Foremost, the Library Hub has been uniquely established through
partnership with people, individually or as organization, who takes charge of
providing the physical structure or building that would house the reading
materials. In 2003, the Library Hub Project was launched and in the same
year, the first library hub, situated in Bacolod City, was inaugurated.
Partners of the Hub, however, came in trickles and after three years, the
Batch 1 of 35 library hubs came into being. After this batch, support from
LGUs mostly Congressmen, Governors and Mayors and NGOs gathered
momentum so that today after another two years, there are about 175 library
hubs either completely installed or undergoing construction or building-
renovation.


Institutionalizing the Library Hub Project of the DepEd through the passage
of a law will ensure sustainability of the project and will generate continued
support from partnership with different individuals and organizations. This
will likewise ensure that the establishment of more library hubs can be
provided to far flung provinces of the country where these are most needed.

The immediate approval of this noteworthy piece of legislation is hereby
earnestly sought.

artes 7

SALVABOR H. ESCUDERO III ANNA YORK P. BONDOC
Representative Representative

1* District, Sorsogon 4® District, Pampanga

MARCELINO R. TEODORO

Representative
29%Pistrict, Cagayan de Oro City 1* District, Marikina City



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILLNO.___ 4327

Introduced by Representatives Salvador H, Escudero I1J, Anna York P, Bondoc,
Rufus B. Rodriguez and Marcelino R. Teodoro

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING A LIBRARY HUB IN EVERY SCHOOLS DIVISION OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION |. Short Title. This Act shall be known as “Library Hub Act”,

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. tis hereby declared to be the policy of the State to
establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education
relevant to the needs of the people and society. Towards this end, the government shall
endeavor to develop among pupils and students the love for and habit of | reading with the aid
of an infrastructure called “Library Hub” that makes available reading }O Support
this project so that every child will become functionally literate and responsible citizens.

SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. Por purposes of this Act, the following terms shall be
defined as follows:

(a) Library Hub, also known as Hub, shall refer to a “warehouse and wholesale”
library located in a strategic place within a schools division and exclusively providing public
preschool, elementary and secondary schools with quality and adequate supplementary
reading materials arranged in plastic bins and sorted by subject area and grade or year level;

(b) Library Hub Books shall refer to BEC-curriculum specifies and value-laden
reading books intended for preschoolers to high schoo! students, including SPED classes and
non-formal education learners;

() Schools Division shall refer to a division established by the Deparment of
Education (DepEd) in every province or city and which is headed by a schools division
superintendent;

(4) Sponsors shall refer to any person or organization from the government or from
the private sector who, in partnership with the DepEd, may signify their interest to sponsor a
Hub and who may support Hub renovation or new construction, provision of furniture and
equipment, additional books, computers or who may fund the salaries of additional personnel
in the Hub.


WOIAWELN

a Us ys be ue
RAL

37

SEC. 4. Establishment of Library Hub in Schools Division. The library hub is
hereby cstablished in schools division throughout the country and shall be under the
management of the DepEd. At least one (1) library hub shall be established in every schools
ion which shall be equipped with adequate and varied quality supplementary reading
materials for public elementary and secondary schools.

‘The Hub shall in ne way be converted into any other type of library (provincial, city,
municipal) or as a venue for activities other than what the Hub has been legally established
for.

All Hub properties shall be free from any promotional and political ads of any
sponsor‘donor whether goverament or private.

SEC. 5. Objectives. The library hub project aims to:

a) Provide greater access to reading materials to all public schoot pupils and
students

b) Provide quality and appropriate books to public elementary and secondary
schools nationwide;

©) Develop the Filipine child’s love for books and habit of reading; and

4) Support the development of reading and comprehension skills of public schoo!
pupils and students.

SEC. 6. Implementing Agency. The authority to regulate the organization, operation
and/or implementation of the library hub project shall be vested upon the DepED, through the
schools division superintendent.

SEC. 7. Staff Support and Compensation. There shall be created a Hub staff in each
library hub which shall be composed of a librarian, an assistant librarian, a library aide, and a
utility worker.

The Hub staff shall receive a monthly basic salary based on the compensation
prescribed by the Salary Standardization Law. as amended.

Tn the absence of a regular staff to manage the Hub, the schools division
superintendent may hire contractual employees and charge their salaries against the Division
Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), subject to availability of funds.

SEC. 8. Parmership Between the DepEd and Sponsors. To augment other
requirements needed by the library bub project, the DepEd shall, as an alternative, enter into
partnership with prospective project sponsors. Any person or organization from the
government or from the private sector may signify their interest to sponsor a Hub.

The agreement between the DepEd and its sponsor shall be covered by a
Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).

SEC. 9, Tax Exemption on Donations. All donations in any form to the library hub
project shall be exempt trom the Donor’s Tax and the same shall be considered as allowable
deduction from the gross income in the computation of the income tax of the donor/sponsor,
in accordance with the provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997. as
amended.

“2+


SEC. 10. Appropriations. The amount necessary for the implementation of this Act
shail be included in the annual General Appropriations Act as part of the appropriations of

the DepEd.

SEC. 11. Implementing Rutes and Regulations. The Secretary of the Department of
Education shall promulgate the necessary implementing rules and regulations within sixty (60)
days after the effectivity of this Act,

SEC. 12. Repeating Clause. All laws, dectees, executive orders and rules and
regulations contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or
modified accordingly.

SEC. 13. Affectivity Clause. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazzette

Approved,