Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. ____ 
Introduced by HON. MIGUEL LUIS R. VILLAFUERTE, HON. VINCENZO 
RENATO LUIGI R. VILLAFUERTE, HON. TSUYOSHI ANTHONY G. HORIBATA, AND 
HON. TERRY L. RIDON 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that the State shall protect and promote the 
right of all citizens to quality education at all levels. It also recognizes the rights of Indigenous 
Cultural Communities within the framework of national unity and development.  
In line with this mandate, the Department of Education (DepEd) launched the Last Mile 
Schools Program in 2019 to address the lack of access to quality education in geographically 
isolated, disadvantaged, and conflict-affected areas (GIDCA).1  
This bill seeks to institutionalize and expand the Last Mile Schools Program through a 
legislative measure. It mandates a five-year implementation of the school building program 
through a coordinated multi-agency approach. It directs the DepEd to build and improve public 
basic education schools in GIDCA, with the support from the Department of Public Works and 
Highways for constructing access roads, Department of Energy and National Electrification 
Administration for installing electricity, and Department of Information and Communications 
Technology for connectivity infrastructure. Further, it establishes clear criteria in identifying 
Last Mile Schools such as schools with less than four classrooms; makeshift rooms and 
multigrade classes; fewer than five teachers; a student population of less than 100; no regular 
electricity, ICT access, or infrastructure investment in recent years; and at least 75% 
indigenous learners or located far from town centers. 
Access to quality basic education remains a persistent challenge for children in far-
flung and marginalized areas. By enacting this bill, the government commits to a long-term 
policy that ensures the sustained delivery of quality basic education to them.  
This bill was passed in third reading during the 19th Congress, showing the 
overwhelming support of legislators. In view of the foregoing, the immediate passage of this 
bill is earnestly sought.  
HON. MIGUEL LUIS R. VILLAFUERTE 
1 Department of Education. (2019, July 22). DepEd’s Last Mile Schools Program to address gaps in isolated, disadvantaged 
areas. https://www.deped.gov.ph/2019/07/22/depeds-last-mile-schools-program-to-address-gaps-in-isolated-disadvantaged-
areas/ 
July 29, 2025
6:37 pm
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HON. VINCENZO RENATO LUIGI R. VILLAFUERTE 
HON. TSUYOSHI ANTHONY G. HORIBATA 
HON. TERRY L. RIDON 


Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. ____ 
Introduced by HON. MIGUEL LUIS R. VILLAFUERTE, HON. VINCENZO 
RENATO LUIGI R. VILLAFUERTE, HON. TSUYOSHI ANTHONY G. HORIBATA, AND 
HON. TERRY L. RIDON 
AN ACT ESTABLISHING PUBLIC BASIC EDUCATION SCHOOLS IN 
GEOGRAPHICALLY ISOLATED AND DISADVANTAGED AND CONFLICT-AFFECTED 
AREAS, PROVIDING ACCESS ROADS LEADING TO LAST MILE SCHOOLS, AND 
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled:  
SECTION 1. Short Title. – This Act shall be known as the “Last Mile Schools Act.” 
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. – It is the declared policy of the State to protect and 
promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels, and take appropriate steps to 
make such education accessible to all.  
The State recognizes and promotes the rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities 
within the framework of national unity and development. To this end, the State shall recognize 
the right of indigenous families and communities to retain shared responsibility for upbringing, 
training, education and well-being of their children, consistent with the rights of the child.  
The State shall improve the quality and access to basic education of children in the 
far-flung, isolated, disadvantaged and conflict-affected areas, as well as those in Last Mile 
Schools, by investing on school infrastructures and roads leading to the said public schools.  
SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. – As used in this Act: 
(a) Basic education refers to the intended basic learning needs which provide the
foundation on which subsequent learning can be based. It includes kindergarten,
elementary and secondary education as well as alternative learning systems for out
of-school learners and those with special needs;
(b) Basic Education School refers to learning institutions accredited by the Department
of Education (DepEd) to deliver services addressing the intended basic learning
needs of students;
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(c) Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs)/Indigenous Peoples (IPs) refer to the same 
definition stated in Section 3h, Chapter 2 of Republic Act No. 8371, or “The 
Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997”, which describes it as “group of people or 
homogenous societies identified by self-ascription and ascription by others, who 
have continuously lived as organized community on communally bounded and 
defined territory, and who have, under claims of ownership since time immemorial, 
occupied, possessed and utilized such territories, sharing common bonds of 
language, customs, traditions and other distinctive cultural traits, or who have, 
through resistance to political, social and cultural inroads of colonization, 
nonindigenous religions and cultures, became historically differentiated from the 
majority of Filipinos. ICCs/IPs shall likewise include peoples who are regarded as 
indigenous on account of their descent from the populations which inhabited the 
country, at the time of conquest or colonization, or at the time of inroads of 
nonindigenous religions and cultures, or the establishment of present state 
boundaries, who retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and 
political institutions, but who may have been displaced from their traditional domains 
or who may have resettled outside their ancestral domains”; and  
  
(d) Last Mile Schools refer to public basic education schools with gaps in resources and 
facilities which are located in geographically isolated, disadvantaged, and conflict-
affected areas (GIDCA).   
  
SECTION 4.  Establishment of Last Mile Schools. – The Last Mile Schools are hereby 
established, under the administration of the DepEd, to cater to the basic education of learners 
throughout the country’s GIDCA.   
  
 
The establishment of Last Mile Schools in locations situated by the ICCs shall be 
undertaken in consideration of the rights of the IPs, in accordance with Republic Act No. 8371.    
  
SECTION 5. Access to Education. – The DepEd shall collaborate with concerned national 
government agencies for the delivery of the infrastructures necessary to ensure access to 
education in the Last Mile Schools, namely:  
  
(a) Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), for the construction of access 
roads leading to the location of Last Mile Schools;  
 
(b) Department of Energy (DOE) and National Electrification Administration (NEA), for 
the installation of electricity; and  
 
(c) Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), for the 
installation of information and communications technology.  
  
SECTION 6. Criteria. – The indicators used in identifying a public school to be included among 
the Last Mile Schools are the following:   
  
(a) Having less than four (4) classrooms;  
 
(b) With makeshift or nonstandard rooms;  


(c) Absence of or irregular electricity;  
 
(d) Have not been allocated funds for repairs or new construction projects in the last 
four (4) years unless destroyed;  
 
(e) With travel distance of more than one hour from the center of a city or municipality, 
or with difficulty of terrain or of such nature as to be considered having difficulty of 
access to existing educational institutions;  
 
(f) Having multigrade classes or rooms;  
 
(g) With less than five (5) teachers;  
 
(h) Having a student population of less than one hundred (100) learners;   
 
(i) With more than seventy-five percent (75%) IP learners; and  
 
(j) Having such other circumstances that make it difficult for learners to access school 
facilities.  
  
SECTION 7. Implementation. – The school building program for the Last Mile Schools shall 
be established and completed within a period of five (5) years after the effectivity of this Act.  
  
 
To facilitate synchronicity, harmony and complementarity of plans, resources and 
efforts of both the national government and the local government units (LGUs) towards the 
attainment of the objectives of this Act, the DepEd shall plan and implement the programs, 
projects, and activities that address the needs of the Last Mile Schools, in coordination and 
collaboration with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), DPWH, DICT, 
DOE, NEA, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of 
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), National Disaster Risk Reduction and 
Management Council (NDRRMC), and concerned LGUs.  
  
  
SECTION 8. Appropriations. – The amount necessary for the implementation of this Act shall 
be included in the budgets of the concerned Departments, agencies and Government-Owned 
and Controlled Corporations in the annual General Appropriations Act.  
  
SECTION 9. Implementing Rules and Regulations. – Within ninety (90) days from the 
approval of this Act, the Secretary of Education shall, in consultation with the NCIP, DPWH, 
DICT, DOE, NEA, DSWD, DENR, NDRRMC, and Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, 
formulate the rules and regulations implementing the provisions of this Act.    
  
SECTION 10. Separability Clause. – If any provision of this Act is held invalid or 
unconstitutional, the other provisions not so declared shall remain in force and effect.  
  
SECTION 11. Repealing Clause. – All laws, decrees, orders and rules and regulations 
contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or amended 
accordingly.    
  


SECTION 12. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in 
the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.   
   
 
Approved,