FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
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SENATE 
S.B. No. 2025 
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Introduced by Senator EDGARDO J. ANGARA 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The shortage in the number of public school buildings to accommodate the 
increasing number of enrollees in our public schools, associated with the deteriorating 
quality of our education system, has always been a perennial problem. 
To date, the national classroom - student ratio for elementary and secondary public 
schools is still far from the ideal ratio of I :30, due largely to the free education program, 
which has not been met by a corresponding increase in the number of classrooms. 
In her various policy pronouncements, Former President Gloria Arroyo has 
repeatedly promoted her "education for all" program and despite of the yearly increases in 
the budget of the education sector, the impact of public school enrolment on basic 
schooling resources is immense amounting to as much as P 11.30 Billion worth of 
government expenditures and investments for this year only. 
Note that out of the Pll.30 Billion funding requirements to eliminate backlog in 
the education system, almost 40% or an amount equivalent to P4.61 Billion will go to 
classroom gap alone - under a double-shift scenario at 1 :50 per shift. The said amount will 
just be enough to cover the artificial shortage of roughly 6,000 classrooms. 
As per DepEd records, the total nationwide classroom shortage is 41,197 - at 
current prices, the government will be in need of at least PI6 Billion of additional funding 
to be able to crack the classroom shortage. 
Furthermore, DepEd reported that 20% of the country's classrooms have no proper 
ventilation, 27% have no lighting, 55% do not have electricity, and 25% have no ceilings. 
It also added that in 2005, 20% of elementary and secondary schools did not have science 
laboratories. 
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, builel-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 
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Department of Education, Culture and Sports. The program also provide for the integration 
of all the necessary infolmation for the effective monitoring and maintenance of existing 
school buildings. 
Reducing the shortage in classrooms will not automatically reduce the class size to 
the ideal 25, however. Today, the actual class size in public schools is 60 to 110. This pales 
in comparison to Thailand (18), Malaysia (19), China (24), Taiwan (14), and Indonesia 
(22). 
It is hoped that with the passage of this bill, class sizes will be reduced to a 
manageable and ideal proportion level for a more conductive learning environment and 
thus result in the improvement of the quality of onr education. 
Towards this end, I urge my colleagues in the Chamber to immediately pass this 
bi II. 
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FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
SENATE 
S.B. No. 2025 
Introduced by Seuator EDGARDO J. ANGARA 
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 in the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in the 
Congress assembled: 
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SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "School Building 
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Program Actof2010." 
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SEC. 2. School Building Program Objectives. - There shall be established a 
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comprehensive and continuing School Building Program, hereinafter referred to as the 
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"Program", which shall have the following objectives: 
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(a) To provide a system for an accurate inventory of all existing public primary and 
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secondary school buildings, with proper indications as to its location, size, 
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capacity, condition, and compliance with basic building safety requirements; 
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(b) To provide appropriate studies for determining the yearly school building 
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requirements base on projected increases in enrollment and other appropriate 
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indicators; 
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(c) To provide for the effective monitoring and supervision of all school building 
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facilities with respect to its proper arid adequate maintenance, replacement, 
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rehabilitation and repair; 
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(d) To provide a comprehensive plan for the acquisition and/or construction and 
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adequate school sites, buildings and facilities for all public elementary and 


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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; 
( e) To provide the mechanism for the selection of public schools to prioritize in the 
school-building projects nationwide; 
(f) 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; 
(g) 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 ofthe Program; 
(h) To formulate guidelines for the bidding procedures that will be used for the 
school building program including that of the contractual arrangement schemes; 
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(i) To provide for a definite work and financial schedUle for the construction, 
operation and maintenance of school buildings nnder any of the contractual 
arrangement schemes. 
SEC. 3. Inter-Agency Committee. - To formnlate and ensure the effective 
implementation of the program, there is hereby created an interagency 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 
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and every year thereafter, the comprehensive schoollbuilding program herein established. 
SEC. 4. Implementation of the Program. - Consistent with the provisions of 
Republic Act No. 7880, otherwise known as the "Fair 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 DepEd as provided in the 
Program. The DepEd is hereby authorized to enter into contracts with duly pre-qualified 
private contractors for the design, financing, construction, maintenance and other aspects 
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of school buildings through the build-operate and transfer, build and transfer, build-lease 
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and transfer, rehabilitate-operate and transfer and such other contractual arrangement 
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schemes as provided under the Build - Operate and Transfer Law (Republic Act No. 
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6957). 
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SEC. 5. Release of Maintenance and Other Operating Expenditures. - For the 
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purpose of ensuring compliance of such contractual arrangement as may hereinafter be 
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entered, the appropriation of DepEd for the School Building Program and for Maintenance 
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and other Operating Expenditures shall be directly released to DepEd according to the 
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work and financial schedule stipulated in the program. 
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SEC. 6. Appropriation. - The amount necessary to attain the objectives of this Act 
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shall be authorized to be appropriated out of the unallocated share of the national 
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government in the income of the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), 
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for a period of five (5) years. If the above amount be deemed inadequate, such amount as 
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may be necessary to augment said animal appropriations shall be included in the General 
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Appropriations Act. 
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SEC. 7. Separability Clause. - If any provIsIOn 
111 this Act is declared 
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unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the validity and effectivity of the other 
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provisions hereof. 
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SEC. 8. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations and all 
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other issuances of parts thereof, which are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or 
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modified accordingly. 
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SEC. 9. Effectivity Clause. -This Act shall take effect upon its approval. 
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Approved, 
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