FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
7 JUL -4 
Ai :?a 
INTRODUCED BY SEN. MANNY VILLAR 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Illiteracy is a worldwide problem. It is a major hindrance to development 
and is directly associated with poverty, hunger and high mortality rates. 
Like the primary health care strategy, primary literacy and reading 
approach utilizes village-level and indigenous materials and leadership. It 
provides a venue for both formal and non-formal settings to eradicate illiteracy. It 
will use the family as literacy and reading structure and the primary frontier for 
the young to learn to read and write. It will mobilize available resources for 
farmers, fisherman, workers and other groups in the work force to learn to read 
and write while doing their livelihood activities or to enhance their capability to 
improve their work tasks. It will utilize all public and private libraries as the 
network for resources and learning environment for those who want to read or to 
improve their level of literacy from a limited one to that of full or functional 
literacy. An eight-point program framework is proposed. 
This measure seeks to set a national policy and program to eradicate 
illiteracy by the year 2010 through the primary literacy and reading approach. Its 
approval is needed and urgent if we are to have an integrated approach to 
fighting illiteracy and its concomitant conditions like poverty, unemployment and 
ignorance. 
. 


FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
Senate Bill No. 9 5 4  
INTRODUCED BY SEN. MANNY VILLAR 
AN ACT 
DECLARING THE NATIONAL POLICY ON AND ESTABLISHING THE 
PROGRAM FRAMEWORK FOR THE PRIMARY LITERACY AND READING 
APPROACH, PROVIDING THE IMPLEMENTING MECHANISMS THEREFOR 
AND 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 "Primary Literacy and 
Reading Approach of the Philippines". 
SECTION 2. National Policy and Program Framework.- It is hereby 
declared to be the national policy to achieve literacy for all children and youth 
from age 7 to 24 by the year 2000 and to promote literacy in order to achieve 
social justice by freeing our people from the harmful effects of poverty and 
ignorance. 
It is also hereby declared to be the national policy to adopt the primary 
literacy and reading approach to attain literacy for all youth, build our people's 
capability to meet basic needs by engendering in them the ability to maximize 
employability potential and to accelerate the attainment of national and personal 
socio-economic goals. 
For the attainment of the national policies herein stated, the following 
strategies and components of the primary literacy and reading approach shall be 


integrated in major programs of government in education, livelihood generation 
and values formation and those for the survival and development of our children 
and youth: 
1. Promote the ability to read with understanding and to communicate with 
others through a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral approach utilizing to the 
extent possible community-based and indigenous institutions, structures 
and materials; 
2. Fully adopt and implement the universalization of free andlor subsidized 
kindergarten, elementary and secondary levels of formal education for all 
children and youth from the age of five (5) years until completion of a 
secondary education; 
3. Adopt and implement the youth training team approach whereby the 
highest achievers of higher educational levels form part of a teaching team 
headed by a master teacher in order to teach pupils and students of lower 
grade levels; 
4. Adopt and implement, where feasible, the triple session approach for 
elementary grades and the trimester approach for secondary and 
collegiate levels; and where feasible, adapt school calendars to the 
indigenous agricultural and cultural traditions of our people to attain a 
community-based educational system which enables children and youth to 
assist in family livelihood activities and complete elementary and 
secondary levels of education; 
5. Provide non-entrants to and/or drop-outs from the formal school system, 
with accredited informal or non-formal activities which will ultimately 
provide them with functional literacy skills and enable them to complete a 
vocational course andlor attain skills for self-employment or earn a 
livelihood; 
6. Promote literacy in order to fully exercise political rights and protect their 
human rights under the Constitution utilizing established barangay-level 
institutions, public and non-governmental and learning materials geared to 
the language andlor dialect spoken in the community where they live; 
7. Strengthen and mobilize the network of public and private libraries and 
family collections of books and materials to enhance and enrich literacy 
and reading skills and provide a resource for a youth to child reading skills 
approach whereby the literate youth teach the other children and youth 
and reinforce literacy and reading capability of both the youth-teacher and 
the child/youth learner; and 
8. Promote and implement such other strategies and projects which will 
achieve the national policies herein provided and will enhance and 
strengthen skills for reading and writing, for earning a livelihood, exercise 
of political and human rights and creativity and critical thinking, through 
the use of community-based resources, indigenous materials and tools 
and the mobilization of barangay-level leadership. 


SECTION 3. Implementing Structures and Mechanisms/Networks.- The 
Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Interior and Local 
Government (DILG) shall be the lead agencies for the implementation of this. 
Towards this end, the Secretary of DepEd shall promulgate such necessary rules 
and regulations for the implementation of this Act with respect to the barangay 
level projects and activities and the support linkages within the local government 
units which will carry out the national policy and program framework of this Act. 
All public and private libraries are hereby constituted into a network for the 
primary literacy and reading approach, subject to such rules and regulations as 
the Secretary of DepEd shall promulgate. 
SECTION 4. Funding.- There is hereby authorized to be appropriated the 
amount of Twenty Million Pesos (p20,000,000.00) for the initial year of operation 
of this Act. Thereafter, such amounts are necessary to implement this Act shall 
be included in the annual appropriations of DepEd and the DILG. 
SECTION 5. Effectivity Clause.- This Act shall take effect upon its 
approval and completion of its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of 
general circulation. 
Approved.