FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
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) 
) 
SENATE 
S.B. 1265 
Introduced by Senator Manny Villar 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
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In the process of building and strengthening the nation, the Philippines must 
develop a'nd nurture culture and the arts in both the public and the private sectors of 
society. In the public sector, a significant and growing part of the career service consists 
of persons with special talents in 'the different fields of art, including music, literature, 
visual arts, films and media arts, architecture, theater and dance. 
This bill proposes that artists be encouraged to pursue civil service careers 
through (a) the recognition by law that the evidence of their talent and the ways they 
have developed it should be the principal bases for the selection, appointment, 
promotion and other personnel movement of artists; and (b) the creation of the Artists 
Career Service (ACS) for the very best of these artist civil servants. 
The first objective of this bill is to structure the career path of artists and their 
promotion and rewards system so that it is based primarily on their differing levels of 
talent and creativity. This should be done for artists who are just starting out in their 
career as well as those who are at its pinnacle. 
The second objective is to create an Artists Career Service and thus address a 
problem faced by the most accomplished among the artists in the civil service. These 
artists frequently attain the highest grades in the civil service only by leaving their craft 
and becoming administrators. This situation affects artistic units in the bureaucracy 
negatively in that they become managed by artists who are not good administrators or 
who do not enjoy administrative work. Meanwhile the civil service loses their services as 
artists and the society at large suffers as the contribution of these persons to art 
decreases in both quantity and quality. 
The Artists Career Service will provide career progression for the best artists by 
conferring on them appropriate rank rather than position. The ACS is closely patterned 
after the Scientific Career System where scientists ascend the career ladder as 
scientists rather than as administrators. Like the personnel systems of the foreign 
service, the armed forces, the faculties of different state universities and colleges, and 
the scientific career service, the ACS will be a closed career system. Under our Civil 
Service system, a closed career service may be established for a sector of the 
bureaucracy which has special characteristics that set it apart from other personnel and 
the regular run of career services in the country. Under the Artists Career Service, 
therefore, artists shall have different bases and processes of recruitment, promotion, 
demotion, career progression, recognition and reward and other aspects of personnel 
development. 
Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that, like all other career services, 
whether closed or open, the Artists Career Service shall follow the requirements set 
forth by the Administrative Code of 1987, Book V, Subtitle A, Chapter 2, Sec. 7 in that it 


shall be composed of personnel whose entrance into the civil service is based on merit 
and fitness who have the opportunity for advanCement to a higher ·position, and who 
shall enjoy security of tenure. 
It is earnestly hoped that this bill shall be passed into law as soon as possible. 
MAN 


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FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
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) 
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JUL i2 f') :31 
SENATE 
s_B.1265 
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Introduced by Senator Manny Villar .!'lI'F.CEIVE'>!1:'l --~ "y'--
AN ACT 
ESTABLISHING THE ARTISTS CAREER SERVICE, RECOGNIZING THE 
SPECIAL QUALIFICATIONS OF ARTISTS IN GOVERNMENT, PROVIDING FUNDS 
THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Statement of Policy. - It shall be the policy of the State, in 
pursuance of the national interest, nation-building and cultural development, to support 
and encourage the development of culture and the arts, to attract artists into the public 
seNice and to provide a system for the recognition and reward of artistic performance, 
productivity and creativity within the context of seN ice within government. 
SEC. 2. Artists Career Service. - In accordance with the provision of Section 1 
hereof, the Artists Career Service, hereinafter referred to as the SeNice, is hereby 
created as one of the closed career seNices of the civil service. 
SEC. 3. Definition and Character. -
(1) The Artists Career SeNice is a system of recruitment, career progression, 
recognition and reward of artists in the public seNice, and a means of selecting, 
developing and retaining a pool of highly qualified and productive artists personnel. 
Members of the SeNice, from the first, second and third levels, shall be granted 
eligibilities corresponding to the regular career seNice. 
(2) Characteristics of the Service. 
The SeNice shall be characterized by: 
(a) Entrance and career progression or advancement based on qualifications, 
merit and artistic performances and creativity; 
(b) Career paths that shall allow artists to develop within their respective areas of 
expertise without leaving their status as artists to provide them opportunities 
for advancement to a higher position within the SeNice; 
(c) Incentives and rewards which ensure attraction and retention of highly 
qualified manpower in culture and the arts; and 
(dl Security of tenure. 
SEC. 4. Coverage. - The SeNice shall include personnel who have been 
recognized as having talent in at least one of the fields of culture and the arts and who 
occupy positions in government directly involved in the creation, performance, 
presentation and development of artistic work in six (6) categories of art, namely: music, 
literature, visual arts, film and media arts, theatre and dance. 
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The Service shall embrace the artists personnel of the Cultural Center of the 
Philippines, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and other units and 
agencies of the national government, local governments, public: enterprises and other 
branches or instrumentalities of government that are engaged in culture and the arts 
and practitioners of traditional and indigenous arts. 
SEC. 5. Criteria of Appointment to and Advancement in the Service. - The 
following shall be the criteria for appointment to and advancement in the Service: 
(a) Talent - shall be determined through auditions or evaluation by the respective 
artistic panel; 
(b) Education and productivity - Education shall refer to academic attainment of 
at least two (2) years at the Bachelor's level from a college or university of 
recognized standing, or two (2) years of specialized training and/or 
experience. Productivity shall refer to significant output and contributions to 
relevant fields of the arts, including the production of works in the case of 
visual arts, or publication of literary work and training of young talents. For 
purposes of this Act, education and productivity may be used as alternative or 
complementary qualifications. 
(c) Artistic standing - shall refer to the level of acceptance and recognition of a 
person in the artistic community in terms of artistic, moral and ethical integrity, 
as indicated by awards, publications, exhibitions and similar forms of 
reQognition. 
SEC: 6. Artists Career Service Board. - The Artists Career Service Board, 
hereinafter referred to as the Board, is hereby established to administer the Service. It 
shall be headed by the Chairperson of the Civil Service Commission as chairperson, 
and shall have the following as members: the chairperson of the National Commission 
for Culture and the Arts, the president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the 
president of the University of the Philippines. At the initial meeting of the members, they 
shall recommend three (3) artists of national renown to sit with them as regular 
members of the Board. In no case shall any two (2) of them be from the same field of 
the arts. These artists shall serve for a term of three (3) years: Provided, That in the 
initial term of the Board, one (1) member shall serve for three (3) years, the second for 
two (2) years and the third for one (1) year. Thereafter, the Board shall choose one (1) 
member each year: Provided, further, That such member shall come from an art field 
not then represented in the Board. No artist shall serve in the Board for more than two 
(2) consecutive terms. 
The members of the Board shall receive per diems and allowances for meetings 
attended. 
The Board shall have a secretariat, headed by an executive director, which shall 
provide the support services to the Board as well as administer and implement its 
policies and programs. 
The Board shall be attached to the Civil Service Commission for policy and 
program coordination. 
SEC. 7. Powers and Functions of the Board. - The Board shall have the 
following powers and functions: 
(a) Formulate norms for assessing merit and fitness for entrance and 
advancement into the three (3) levels of the service for approval by the Civil Service 
Commission; 
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(b) Establish a system of ranks for the third level which shall be comparable 
across the six (6) categories of artists recognized by the Service; 
(c) Create special artistic panels in the following fields of specialization: literature, 
music, visual arts, film and media arts, theater and dance. Each artistic panel shall be 
composed of three (3) members who are recognized in their respective fields and who 
shall serve for a term of two (2) years on a staggered basis. In the first year of 
implementation, two (2) members shall be appointed for two (2) years and one (1) 
member shall be appointed for one (1) year. No person may serve for more than two (2) 
consecutive terms; 
(d) 
Grant the 
appropriate eligibility to qualified artists based 
on 
the 
recommendation of the artistic panel and submit the names to· the Civil Service 
Commission; and 
(e) Maintain a roster of artists appointed to the Service. 
SEC. 8. Appointment and Advancement in the Service. -
(a) The heads of agencies or local government units where the artists are 
employed or to be employed shall submit to the Board the names of candidates for 
appointment and/or advancement in the Service; 
(b) The Board shall designate the appropriate artistic panel to assess the 
candidates; 
(c) The artistic panel shall evaluate the qualifications of the candidates and 
recommend the appropriate action to the Board; and 
d) The Board shall act on the recommendations of the artistic panel. 
SEC. 9. Tenure. - Any person appointed to the service shall be on probation for 
a period of one (1) year after which he or she will be recommended for tenure or 
removal by the artistic panel. Such action shall be based on criteria enumerated in 
Section 5 of this Act. Such recommendation to grant or withhold tenure shall be 
reviewed by the Artists Career Service Board who shall endorse the same for final 
approval by the Civil Service Commission. 
No person covered by the Service shall be divested of, or demoted in rank 
except for cause as provided by law. 
SEC., 10. Training and Development. - The Civil Service Commission, the 
Artists Career Service Board and the agencies concerned shall provide for a continuing 
program oftraining and development for artists personnel in the government service. 
. 
. 
SEC. 11. Salary Schedule. - The ranking system and salary schedule for the 
artists appointed to the Service shall be prepared by the Board in accordance with the 
prOVisions of Republic Act No. 6758 or the Salary Standardization Law. 
SEC. 12. Applicability of the Civil Service Law. - The provisions of the Civil 
Service Law and the rules and regulations issued by the Civil Service Commission shall 
be applicable to the Artists Career Service. 
. 
. 
SEC. 13. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The implementing rules and 
regulations for the proper implementation of this Act shall be jointly promulgated by the 
National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Cuttural Center of the Philippines, the 
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University of the Philippines, the Civil Service Commission, and the Department of 
Budget and Management, not later than ninety (90) days after the approval of this Act. 
SEC. 14. Appropriations. - Such sums as may be necessary to carry out 
theprovisions of this Act shall be included in the General Appropriations Act of the year 
following its enactment into law and thereafter. 
SEC. 15. Separability Clause. - If any section or provision of this Act shall be 
declared invalid or unconstitutional, such shall not invalidate any other section or 
provision of this Act. 
SEC. 16. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders, issuances, or parts 
thereof which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or 
modified accordingly. 
SEC. 17. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen days after its publication 
In the Official Gazette or one major newspapers of national circulation, whichever 
comes earlier. 
Approved, 
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