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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
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OF THE PHILIPPINES 
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First Regular Session 
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S E N A T E  
S.B.No. 
528 
Introduced by Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The number of school facilities built has not met the yearly building requirements 
caused by increases in enrollment. 
As a result, the backlog of classroom has 
increased. This shortage in the number of public school buildings in our country has 
always been a perennial problem associated with the deteriorating quality of our 
education system. 
The national classroom-student ratio for elementary and secondary public 
schools has reached a staggering 1:65, or one (1) classroom per 65 students, 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 surely increase further. To 
attain the ideal classroom-student ratio in the next five (5) years, at least 100,000 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. 
EJERCITO E S T R A D ~  
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Senator 
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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
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OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
First Regular Session 
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Ngcl: \VEW FPt : 
S E N A T E  
S. 6. 
No. 
528 
Introduced by Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada 
AN ACT 
ESTABLISHING A PROGRAM FOR 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 “School Building 
Program Act of 2007”. 
SEC. 2. School Building Program Objectives. - There shall be established a 
comprehensive and continuing School Building Program, hereinafter referred to as the 
“Program”, which shall have the following objectives: 
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; 
To provide appropriate studies for determining the yearly school building 
requirements based on projected increases in enrollment and other 
appropriate indicators; 
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; 
To provide a comptehensive plan for the construction of school 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; 
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 


7. 
To provide for necessary mechanisms which will facilitate a closer 
coordination between the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), 
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of 
Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Department of Education 
(DepEd) to expedite the implementation of the Program; 
To formulate guidelines for the bidding procedures that will be used for 
the school building program including that of the contractual arrangement 
schemes; 
To provide for a definite work and financial schedule for the construction, 
operation and maintenance of school buildings under any of the 
contractual arrangement schemes. 
8. 
9. 
SEC. 3. Inter-Agency Committee. - To formulate and ensure the effective 
implementation of the program, there is hereby created an inter-agency committee, to 
be headed by the Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) as Chairperson, 
and the respective Secretaries of the Department of Public 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 thereafter, the comprehensive School Building 
Program herein established and the accomplishments under such Program. 
SEC. 4. lmplementation of the Program. - Consistent with the provisions of 
Republic Act 
No. 7880, 
otherwise known as the "Fair and Equitable Access to 
Education Acf", the Committee shall determine and supervise the acquisition andlor 
construction of priority school building projects to be implemented by the DepEd as 
provided in the Program. 
The DepEd 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. 
The pertinent provisions of Republic Act No. 9184, otherwise known as the 
"Government Procurement Reform Acf", with respect to procurement as defined therein, 
shall remain in force. 
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 DepEd for the School Building Program and 
for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenditures (MOOE) shall be directly released 
to DepEd 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 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 to augment said annual appropriations shall be included in the General 
Appropriations Act (GAA). 
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 thereof, which are inconsistent with this Act are hereby 
repealed or modified accordingly. 
SEC. 9. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect after fifteen days from 
its publication in a newspaper of general circulation . 
Approved,