FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
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OF THE PHILIPPINES 
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First Regular Session 
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SENATE 
s . N ~ .  911 
Introduced by SENATOR EDGARDO J. ANGARA 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The shortage in the number of public school buildings to accommodate 
the increasing number of enrollees in our public schools, associated with the 
deteriorating quality of our education system, has always been a perennial 
problem. 
To date, the national classroom - student ratio for elementary and 
secondary public schools is still far from the ideal ratio of 1:30, due largely to 
the free education program, which has not been met by a corresponding 
increase in the number of classrooms. 
In her various policy pronouncements, President Gloria Arroyo has 
repeatedly promoted her “education for all” program and despite of the yearly 
increases in the budget of the education sector, the impact of public school 
enrolment on basic schooling resources is immense amounting to as much as 
P11.30 Billion worth of government expenditures and investments for this 
year only. 
Note that out of the P11.30 Billion funding requirements to eliminate 
backlog in the education system, almost 40% or an amount equivalent to 
P4.61 Billion will go to classroom gap alone - under a double-shift scenario at 
1:50 per shift. The said amount will just be enough to cover the artificial 
shortage of roughly 6,000 classrooms. 
As per DepEd records, the total nationwide classroom shortage is 
41,197 - at current prices, the government will be in need of at least P16 
Billion of additional funding to be able to crack the classroom shortage. 
Furthermore, DepEd reported that 20% of the country’s classrooms 
have no proper ventilation, 27% have no lighting, 55% do not have electricity, 
and 25% have no ceilings. It also added that in 2005, 20% of elementary and 
secondary schools did not have science laboratories. 
The bill seeks to create a comprehensive program which will address 
the problem of classroom shortage. A salient feature of this bill 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 
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construction of needed school buildings, and the creation of an inter-agency G 


committee to formulate and ensure the effective implementation of the 
program by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports. The program 
also provide for the integration of all the necessary information for the 
effective monitoring and maintenance of existing school buildings. 
Reducing the shortage in classrooms wilI not automatically reduce the 
class size to the ideal 25, however. Today, the actual class size in public 
schools is 60 to 110. This pales in comparison to Thailand (18), Malaysia (19), 
China (24), Taiwan (14), and Indonesia (22). 
It is hoped that with the passage of this bill, class sizes will be reduced 
to a manageable and ideal proportion level for a more conductive learning 
environment and thus result in the improvement of the quality of our 
education. 
Towards this end, I urge my colleagues in the Chamber to immediately 
pass this bill. 
EDGARDO 
h P  
. ANGARA 
Senator 


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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
1 7 
<ji.ii. -3 PS, :25 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
First Regular Session 
1 
q\qf’I’\‘’“r. 
!iv ” .. 
SENATE 
S. B. No. 911 
Introduced by SENATOR EDGARDO J. ANGARA 
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A PROGRAM FOR THE ACQUISITION OF 
SCHOOL SITES AND THE CONSTRUCTION, MAINTENANCE, 
REHABILITATION, AND REPAIR OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS IN THE 
PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS 
NATIONWIDE, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR 
OTHERPURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
Republic of the Philippines in Congress Assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “School 
Building Program Act of 2007.” 
SECTION. 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: 
1. 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; 
2. To provide appropriate studies for determining the yearly school 
building requirements base on projected increases in enrollment 
and other appropriate indicators; 
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3. 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; 
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; 
5. To provide the mechanism for the selection of public schools to 
prioritize in the school-building projects nationwide; 
6. 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; 
7. To provide for necessary mechanisms which will facilitate a closer 
coordination between the Department of Budget and Management 
(DBM), Department of 
Public Works and Highways (DPWH), 
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and 
Department of Education (DepEd) to expedite the implementation 
of the Program; 
8. To formulate guidelines for the bidding procedures that will be used 
for the school building program including that of the contractual 
arrangement schemes; and 
9. To provide for a definite work and financial schedule for the 
construction, operation and maintenance of school buildings under 
any of the contractual arrangement schemes. 
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SECTION. 3. Inter-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 (DepEd) 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 within 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. 
SECTION. 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 andlor construction of priority school building 
projects to be implemented by the DepEd as provided in the Program. The 
DepEd is hereby authorized to enter into contracts with duly pre-qualified 
private contractors for the design, financing, construction, maintenance and 
other aspects of school buildings through the build-operate and transfer, 
build and transfer, build-lease and transfer, rehabilitate-operate and transfer 
and such other contractual arrangement schemes as provided under the 
Build - Operate and Transfer Law (Republic Act No. 6957). 
SECTION. 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 DepEd for 
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the School Building Program and for Maintenance and other Operating 
Expenditures shall be directly released to DepEd according to the work and 
financial schedule stipulated in the program. 
SECTION. 6. Appropriation. - The amount necessary to attain the 
objectives of this Act shall be authorized to be appropriated out of the 
unallocated 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 be deemed inadequate, such amount as may be 
necessary to augment said annual appropriations shall be included in the 
General Appropriations Act. 
SECTION. 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. 
SECTION. 8. 
Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders, rules 
and regulations and all other issuances of parts thereof, which are 
inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly. 
SECTION. 9. Effectivity Clause. -This Act shall take effect upon 
its approval. 
Approved, 
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