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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES — [2 4 UL 3 0.201
Quezon City, Metro Manila TM
EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS ;
First Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 31 3151

Introduced by REP. ROMAN T. ROMULO

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING THE PHILIPPINE AIR FORCE ACADEMY (PAFA)
AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The improvement of the Philippine Air Force’s (PAF) regular officer
delivery system has been an impending need of the military establishment.

The PAF Flying Schools (PAFFS), which is at present the main source
of regular officers in the PAF, could no longer provide the required number and
proper training of officer pilots because of inadequate facilities and logistical
support.

More so, since a college degree is an academic requirement for entrance
into the PAFFS, thousands of poor high school graduates with great potentials
are denied from joining the PAF because they have no financial support for a
college education.

The creation of the Philippine Air Force Academy (PAFA) shall address
this problem in line with the constitutional mandate of guaranteeing equal
access of opportunity for public service.

Given the inherent political instability of a developing country such as
the Philippines, we should ensure that our systems do not espouse an unwanted
relationship among officers often called "regular officer homogeneity"
Concerned sectors believed that this "officer homogeneity" may endanger a
potentially explosive political situation where all the branches and levels of the
Armed Forces are controlled by a regular-officer school. The creation of the
PAF will help preclude this situation.


There is also a need to professionalize other officer career areas of the
Air Force such as the aircraft maintenance, avionics and air logistics to further
enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the PAF. These highly specialized
career fields could not be provided adequately by a traditional military
academy such as the Philippine Military Academy.

The PAF Academy as conceptualized, is geared towards making
available an adequate and dedicated corps of professional Air Force officers
with the proper education, training and orientation to lead and manage the
complex technologies inherent in the field of aviation.

For these foregoing reasons, the approval of this bill is earnestly

requested.
Ru B&

ROMAN T. ROMULO


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

3151
HOUSE BILL NO.___

Introduced by REP. ROMAN T. ROMULO

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING THE PHILIPPINE AIR FORCE ACADEMY (PAFA) AND
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR

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

SECTION 1.Philippine Air Force Academy - There shall be established in
the Philippine Air Force an educational institution to be known as the Philippine
Air Force Academy (PAFA), hereinafter referred to as the Academy, for the

instruction and preparation for military service of Air Force Cadets.

SECTION 2 Administration - The academy as herein established shall be
organized and administered by the Commanding General Philippine Air Force
(PAF) under the general supervision and control of the Chief of Staff of the Armed
Forces of the Philippines.

SECTION 3.Academic Board - The Academic Board of the Academy shall
be composed of the Superintendent, the Dean of the Corps of Professors, the
Commandant of Cadets and the Heads of the departments to be constituted as

follows:


a) The Superintendent and the Commandant of Cadets of the Academy
shall be detailed to those positions by the President from the Officers of
the Air Force

b) The Dean of the Corps of Professors shall be appointed from the
permanent professors who have served as heads of departments of
instructions at the Academy.

c) The Academic Board shall have the power to confer the degree of
Bachelor of Science under the rules and regulations as the Chief of
Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines may prescribe upon all
cadets who may hereafter satisfactorily complete the approved course

of studies.

SECTION 4.Department Title and Faculty - The Chief of Staff of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines may prescribe the title of each of the departments
of instruction and professors of the Academy. However, each change of the title of
the department or professor shall not affect the status, rank or eligibility for
promotion or retirement of, or otherwise prejudice, a professor of the Academy.

SECTION 5.Cadet Corps of the Philippine Air Force - The student body
of the Academy shall be known as the Cadet Corps of the Philippine Air Force
(CCPAF). The President is authorized to appoint annually, subject to such physical
and mental examinations as may be prescribed, the number of cadets necessary to
maintain the Cadet Corps at a strength as may be determined by the Academic
Board,

‘The Academy shall provide for educational and physical facilities for the

recruitment and training of women as member of Cadet Corps.

All cadets shall be appointed by the President. An appointment is
conditional until the cadet is admitted.


SECTION 6.Eligibility for Admission - To be cligible for admission, a
candidate must be:

1) Single

2) A natural born citizen of the Philippines;

3) At least seventeen (17) years of age but not more than twenty two (22)
years of age on the first day of April of the year of admission;

4) At least high school graduate;

5) A successful examinee of the prescribed physical and mental
examination; and

6) A successful examinee of the National Secondary Assessment Test.

SECTION 7.Pay and Allowances - The pay and allowances of the Cadets
of the Academy shall be fixed by the President.

SECTION 8.Undertaking - Each cadet shall sign an agreement that unless
sooner separated by duly authorized, authority, he shall

1) Complete the course of instruction at the Academy;

2) Accept an appointment and serve as a commissioned officer of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines for at least eight years immediately after
graduation from the Academy.

SECTION 9. Cadet requirement - Any Cadet who shall after entrance to
the Academy and before completion of the prescribed courses of training, be found
physically and mentally unfit for military assignment by reason of injury or disease
incident to the service, shall be retired with the rank of second lieutenant of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines.

SECTION 10. Prohibition Against Hazing - Subject to the approval of the
Secretary of the National Defense, the Superintendent of the Academy shall issue


rules and regulations preventing hazing and prescribe dismissal suspension and

other adequate punishment for violation thereof.

For the purpose of this Act "hazing" means any unauthorized assumption of
authority by a cadet whereby another cadet suffers or is exposed to any form of
injury, indignity, humiliation, hardship or oppression or the deprivation or
abridgement of any right.

If a cadet is charged with violating any rule or regulation issued pursuant to
this section, the penalty of which is dismissal from the Academy, a request in
writing for a trial by a general court martial may be submitted.

A cadet dismissed from the Academy for hazing shall not be reappointed as
an Air Force Cadet and shall be ineligible for appointment as a commissioned
officer in the Armed Forces of the Philippines unit after two (2) years from the
graduation of the class.

SECTION 11. Commission - Upon satisfactory completion of the course of
instruction at the Academy, the Cadets shall be commissioned second lieutenants in
the regular force of the Philippine Air Force with the relative rank in the order of
final general standing as determined by the Academic Board of the Academy and
approved by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

SECTION 12. Transfer of Assets and Liabilities - The Philippine Air
Force Flying School, including the members of its faculty and personnel, its
records, equipment, assets and liabilities are hereby transferred to and integrated
with the Philippine Air Force Academy.

SECTION 13. Budget - The initial appropriations necessary for the
establishment of the Academy shall be charged to the appropriation of the
Department of National Defense. Thereafter, the amount necessary for the


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improvement, operation and maintenance of the Academy shall be included in the
Annual General Appropriations Act.

SECTION 14. Effectivity - This Act shall take effect upon approval.
Approved,