THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
'24 JiiL -1 
RIO 806 
First Regular Session 
1 
E 
S. B. No. 
- -  
InWoduced by Senator Ramon Bong Revilla, Jr. 
u 
TE 
The number of school facilities built has not met the yearly building 
requirements caused by increases in enrollment. As a result, the backlog of classroom 
has increased. This shortage in the number of public school buildings in our country has 
always been a perennial problem associated with the deteriorating quality of our 
education system. 
Today, the national classroom-student ratio for elementary and secondary public 
schools is a staggering 1:65, due largely to the free education program, which has not 
been met by a corresponding increase in the number of classrooms. With only Php2.5 
Billion allocated for school buildings in the 2003 GAA, the backlog of school rooms will 
increase to 30,100 classrooms by the end of 2000. To attain the ideal classroom-student 
ratio in the next five (5) years, a total of 129,000 new classrooms have to be constructed 
excluding those that have to be rehabilitated. 
The bill seeks to create a comprehensive program which will address the 
problem of classroom shortage. A salient feature of this biU is the provision of build- 
operate-transfer, build-lease-transfer, build-transfer, rehabilitate-operate-transfer, and 
other contractual arrangements that will allow the use of both government and private 
funds to finance the construction of needed school buildings, and the creation of an 
inter-agency committee to formulate and ensure the effective implementation of the 
program by the Department of Education (DepEd). The program also provide for the 
integration of all the necessary information for the effective monitoring and 
maintenance of existing school buildings. 
It is hoped that with the passage of this bill, class sizes will be reduced to a 
manageable level for a more conducive learning environment and thus result in the 
improvement in the quality of our education. 
For the abovem_entioned 
.- 
reasons, approval of this bill is earnestly sought. 
-- 
- 


THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
First Regular Session 
) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
"04 JUL -1 
AIOl306 
1 
/ 
S E  
T E  
2 
S. B. No. 
I. 
Introduced by Senator Ramon Bong Revilla, Jr. 
AN ACT 
ESTABLISHING A P OGRAM FOR THE A 
OF 
SCHOOL 
SITES 
AND 
THE 
C 
M A ~ ~ T ~ N A N ~ ~ ,  
EHABI~I~ATIO 
SCHOOL 
UILDI~G§ IN THE PUBLI 
SCHOOLS 
O P R ~ A T ~ N ~  
FUNDS THE 
PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines in 
Congress Assembled: 
SECTION 1. 
Title. - This Act shall be known as the "School Building 
Program Act of 2004". 
SEC. 2. 
School Building Program Objectives. - There shall be established a 
comprehensive and continuing School Building Program, hereinafter referred to as the 
"Program", which shall have the following objectives: 
I. 
To provide a system for an accurate inventory of all existing public 
primary and secondary school buildings, with proper indications as to its 
location, size, capacity, condition, and compliance with basic building 
safety requirements; 
To provide appropriate studies for determining the yearly school building 
requirements based on projected increases in enrollment and other 
appropriate indicators; 
To provide for the effective monitoring and supervision of all school 
building facilities with respect to its proper and adequate maintenance, 
replacement, rehabilitation and repair; 
2. 
3. 


4. 
To provide a comprehensive plan for the acquisition and/or construction 
and adequate school sites, buildings and facilities for all public elementary 
and secondary schools nationwide, with the aim of reducing the 
classroom-students ratio to an ideal proportion within a period of five (5) 
years upon approval of this Act; 
To provide the mechanism for the selection of public schools to prioritize 
in the school-building projects nationwide; 
To provide a specific time schedule for the construction of school 
buildings which shall be strictly followed so as to prevent unnecessary 
delays and backlogs; 
To provide for necessary mechanisms which will facilitate a closer 
coordination between the Department of Budget and Management, 
Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Interior and 
Local Government, and Department of Education, Culture and Sports to 
expedite the implementation of the Program; 
To formulate guidelines for the bidding procedures that will be used for 
the school building program including that of the contractual 
arrangement schemes; 
To provide for a definite work and financial schedule for the construction, 
--operatioif-and 
maintenance of school buildings mder any of the 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
contractual arrangement schemes. 
SEC. 3. 
Infer-Agency Committee. - To formulate and ensure the effective 
implementation of the program, there is hereby created an inter-agency committee, to 
be headed by the Secretary of the Department of Education PepEd) as Chairperson, 
and the respective Secretaries of the Department of Public Works and Highways 
(DPWH), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and the Department of 
Interior and Local Government (DILG), as members. The committee shall wiihin one 
(1) year from the approval of this Act, submit to the Committee on Education of both 
houses of Congress and every year thereafter, the comprehensive school-building 
program herein established. 
SEC. 4. 
Implementation of the Program. - Consistent with the provisions of 
Republic Act No. 7880, otherwise known as the "Fair and Equitable Access to 
Education Act", the Committee shall determine and supervise the acquisition and/or 


construction of priority school building projects to be implemented by the DECS as 
provided in the Program. The DECS is hereby authorized to enter into contracts with 
duly pre-qualified private contractors for the design and construction management, as 
well as the financing, construction, operation, maintenance of school buildings through 
the build operate and transfer, build and transfer, build-lease and transfer, rehabilitate- 
operate and transfer and other contractual arrangement schemes provided under R.A. 
No. 6957. 
-. 
SEC. 5. 
Release of Maintenance and Other Operating Expenditures. - For the 
purpose of ensuring compliance of such contractual arrangement as may hereinafter be 
entered, the appropriation of DECS for the School Building Program and for 
Maintenance and other Operating Expenditures shall be directly released to DECS 
according to the work and financial schedule stipulated in the program. 
SEC. 6. 
Appropriation. - The amount necessary to attain the objectives of 
this Act shall be authorized to be appropriated out of the undocated share of the 
national government in the income of the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation 
(PAGCOR), for a period of five (5) years. 
If the above amount is inadequate and insufficient, such amount as may be 
necessary to augment said annual appropriations shall be included in the General 
Appropriations Act. 
SEC. 7. 
Separability Clause. - If any provision in this Act is declared 
unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the validity and effectivity of the other 
provisions hereof. 
:- 
SEC. 8. 
Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations 
and all other issuances or parts thereof, which are inconsistent with this Act are hereby 
repealed or modified accordingly. 
SEC. 9. 
Efictivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect upon its approval. 
.
.
 
Approved,