Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

508

Introduced by HONORABLE JUAN EDGARDO “SONNY” M. ANGARA

EXPLANATORY NOTE

‘Among the main problems confronting the educational system in the country today,
aside from lack of adequate funds and low teacher salaries, are staffing problems in remote
school sites, educational inequities in terms of access and quality of education and inadequate
in-service training of teachers.

These problems are found in other parts of the world and they have found that adopting
emerging educational technologies in the education market place are effective in addressing
these problems. Thus, Heller (1990) talks about the application of telecommunications
technology to distance learning, which is live video teleconferencing in the business
environment. Another innovative delivery approach is the use of mobile automated learning
labs or MALLS found in pilot areas of the U.S.A. Brooks and Per1 (1990), on the other hand,
underscore the increasing ability of interactive training systems and the development of multi-
medidhyper media equipment that combines sound, pictures and full:motion video into
computer software systems.

There is no doubt that the effective adoption of these technologies will also revolutionize
Philippine education as in the developed countries of the world. However, our country has
limited resources in developing indigenous leading-edge educational technologies. We also
need to be judicious in adopting these technologies, i.e., when they become more affordable.
This will take place either because the costs would have dropped significantly or because of the
recognition that benefits have expanded exponentially or both, However, we should take care
that we do not end up with obsolete, hand-me-down educational technologies just because they
are expensive or donated to us.

This bill seeks the establishment of a Center for Leading Edge Educational Technologies
(CLEET), which will bring together the academic, technological and economic forces that can
advance the educational promise of affordable technologies. It will be dedicated to the
development of the appropriate educational materials for use in these emerging technologies.
To be able to do this, we need to train people to be CLEET experts and acquire a critical mass
of equipment and software, centrally located in a hightechnology facility.

The CLEET will be a partnership of the government and the private sector. Its’ thrust
would be education and information technology combined, but its operations should have a
heavier emphasis on the information technology aspects.

The Board of Trustees will include, among others, the Secretary of the Department of
Education (DepEd); Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) ; the Chairman
of the Technological Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA); representatives of
other government agencies and the academe. The CLEETs day-to-day operations will be
managed by a director, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees. An Advisory Committee
will assess the state of the country's education and education technology.


The CLEET will be created to focus the collective resources of government and the
private sector into a national force for innovation in education. Its initial capital endowment
comes from the national government. Eventually, its funds will come from both the government
and the private sector. Every year, the DepEd, CHED and TESDA will allocate a portion of their
annual budget to the Center's support.

Private sector support for the CLEET can be enlisted through membership by companies
or organizations for a specific period of time. Their contribution to the CLEET can come in the
form of fund, personnel and equipment, particularly at the initial stage. Program expenses can
be raised from gifts, grants, endowments and funds raised from donors and the company
member ships

The CLEET will train educators, trainors and practitioners from across the nation to
influence the directions of educational technology. The premise is that educational priorities
should lead, rather than react to the development of affordable educational technologies. The
goal is to assemble a high- technology facility for accessing leading-edge hardware, software
and materials and a core of leadership to determine these priorities and to bring technology to
bear on them as appropriate. First priorities will be areas of manpower developments and the
educational curricula that are of broad importance and that are amenable to the educational
promise of technology.

In view of the foregoing, approval of this bill is earnestly requested.

JUAN EDGARDO “SONNY” M. ANGARA
Representative
Lone District, Province of Aurora


FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE )
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES )
First Regular Session )

ORAB.No._ 508

Introduced by Honorable JUAN EDGARDO “SONNY” M. ANGARA

AN ACT
CREATING THE CENTER FOR LEADING-EDGE EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES,
PROVIDING FOR ITS ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE, POWERS AND
FUNCTIONS,
AUTHORIZING THE APPROPRIATION OF FUNDS THEREOF,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

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

SECTION 1. Title. This Act shall be known as the “Charter of the Center for Leading-
Edge Educational Technologies.”

SEC. 2, Declaration of Policy and Objectives. It is hereby declared the policy of the
State to rationalize and integrate a comprehensive approach in bringing together the academic,
technological and economic forces which will initiate, promote, sponsor, assist, pursue, support
and conduct programs, projects and studies geared towards training, research, development of
the educational promise of affordable technologies and other related sciences of fields of
endeavor.

SEC. 3. Center For leading-Edge Educational Technologies; Creation and Principal
Place of Business (CLEET). To implement the State policy and pursue the objectives of this
Act, there is hereby created a non-stock, non-profit, non-sectoral and non-political body
corporate to be known as the Center for Leading-Edge Educational Technologies or CLEET,
hereinafter referred to as the Center, which shall be organized and operated in the public
interest, and to be jointly funded by both the government and the private sector.

The Center shall have its principal place of business in Metro Manila, Philippines:
Provided, however, That the Center may, from time to time, establish and maintain branches in
or outside of the Philippines whenever such action is necessary or requisite in the furtherance of
its purposes and objectives.

SEC. 4. Corporate Powers. Aside from the general powers, rights, privileges and
attributes allowed or permitted by law, the Center shall have the Following powers and
functions:

(1) To design and develop training programs using leading-edge educational
technologies for knowledge transfer and skills training;

(2) To develop training programs using appropriate strategies and media to identified
target audiences;

(3) To prepare and implement an accreditation and equivalency program using
leading-edge educational technologies for students from the informal and non-
formal sectors to enter the mainstream of formal education or the world of work in
business and industry;


(4)

(6)

(6)

1)
(8)
(9)
(10)

(11)

(12)

(13)

(14)

(18)

(16)

(17)

(18)

To initiate and conduct seminars, publications, reports, workshops, educational
campaigns, conferences, conventions, fora and symposia on matters, subjects and
topics pertaining to or involving leading-edge educational technologies significant
to practitioners, teachers, students, and private and public entities;

To collect, compile, collate, evaluate, analyze and study activities, data and
materials pertaining to or involving leading-edge educational technologies and to
this end, to publish or disseminate information through researches, studies,
workshops, conferences, symposia or fora and other activities of the Center;

To review general and specific! disciplinary hardware/courseware tools from
educational perspectives;

To develop functional requirements for new educationalltraining tools;
To study the implications of technology for the areas of the curriculum;
To legitimize the role of instructional technology in the educational community;

To develop prototype tools, software and educational materials in response to
identified needs;

To facilitate collection and serve as clearing house of literature on leading-edge
educational technologies;

To aid, assist or coordinate with any individual, corporation, association,
organization or entity, public or private, in the achievement, pursuit and conduct of
any or all of the foregoing activities and objectives;

To acquire, secure or obtain by purchase, lease, barter or any other legal means of
acquisition such real and personal properties as may be necessary and proper to
maintain its offices or facilities, or to carry out the programs or projects initiated,
‘sponsored or assisted by the Center;

To raise and maintain a fund with which to compensate its operating management
and staff and to finance the programs, projects or undertakings which the Center
have initiated, promoted or conducted;

To receive and accept funds, real or personal properties in the form of donations
and/or grants in the furtherance of the purposes and objectives of the Center;

To invest the funds of the Center in such securities of investments as may be
deemed advisable in the furtherance of the objectives and the purpose of the
Center, and in connection thereto, to enter into any all kinds of contracts,
arrangements and undertaking, not contrary to or prohibited by law , with any
Person, corporation, or entity;

To borrow money or funds or obtain and/or arranged such credit or credit
accommodation as may be required or necessary for its operations, programs, and
projects and in connection thereto to secure the same by the pledge, mortgage or
other lawful arrangements and;

To perform and engage in any and all acts, matters and things which may be
necessary, proper and convenient for the accomplishment or achievement of the
objectives and purposes of the Center.

SEC. §. Board of Trustees. The Center shall be governed and its acitiyities shall be
directed, controlled and managed by a Board of Trustees which shall be composed of thirteen
(13) members. The members of the Board of Trustees, whom are to serve until their successors
are elected and qualified as provided by the by-laws of the Center, shall be as follows:

(1)

Secretary, Department of Education (DepED), Chairman of the Board;


(2) Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DOST);

(3) Secretary, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE);

(4) Chairman, Commission on Higher Education (CHED);

(6) Chairman, Technical Education And Skills Development Authority (TESDA);
(6) President, National Public Broadcasting System;

(7) President, National Inter-University Forum on Education;

(8) Representative, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry;

(8) Representative, .Employers Confederation of the Philippines;

(10) Representative, Information Technology and Coordinating Council;

(11) The Director of the Center, as provided for in Section 6 hereof.

In addition, the President of the Philippines shall appoint two (2) representatives from the
academe, who have gained reputations in the education community or academic circles as
outstanding educators.

SEC. 6. Director. There shall be a Director of the Center to be appointed by the
President of the Philippines for a term of four (4) years, and who, aside from being a member of
the Board of Trustees, shall be in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Center.

SEC. 7. Advisory Board. There shall be created an Advisory Board whose function is
to assess the current state of the country’s education and education technology, and
recommend policies and measures that will enhance technology adoption and technology
transfer.

The members of the Advisory Board shall be appointed by the President of the
Philippines, and they shall come from both the academic community and the other field of
science and technology. They shall meet at least once every three months, and such other time
as may be requested by the President or as they may deem necessary. -

SEC. 8. Appropriations. The Department of Education (DepED), the Commission on
Higher Education (CHED), and the Technical Education and Sltills Development Authority
(TESDA) shall, every year, allocate a portion of their annual budget for the support of the
Center.

SEC. 9. Tax Exemptions. The provisions of existing laws to the contrary
notwithstanding, all gifts, grants, endowments, funds, and such other donations, personal or
real, from donors and company memberships shall be exempt from the donor's or transfer tax.

SEC. 10. Applicable Law. The provisions of Batas Pambansa Bilang Animnapu't Walo
(BP. Big. 68), as amended, otherwise known as the Corporation Code of the Philippines, not
otherwise in conflict with this Act, shall apply in suppletory manner.

SEC. 11. Repealing Clause. Any provision of other laws inconsistent with this Act is
hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

SEC. 12. Separability Clause. If, for any reason, any part or provision of this Act is
declared invalid or unconstitutional, any part or provision not affected thereby shall remain in full
force and effect.

‘SEC. 13. Effectivity - This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved,