Republic of the Philippines
House of Representatives
Quezon City
EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

First Regular Session

House Bill No. 517

Introduced by Representative Jose Enrique S. Garcia Ill

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), as created
under Republic Act No. 7796, was declared by the State as provider of relevant,
accessible, high quality, and efficient technical education and skills development in
support of the development of high quality Filipino middle-level manpower responsive
to and in accordance with Philippine development goals and priorities.

With the rapid and major developments in the Province of Bataan and the
changing of international labor requirements and standards, providing access and
strengthening the technical-vocational education is now essential to equip Balanga
City and its neighboring localities with globally competent and technically skilled
manpower responsive to the needs of the province.

The proposed Balanga City TESDA Training and Assessment Center will offer
practical short-term certificate courses and modular trainings in technical-vocational
education and trade technology in Balanga City, Province of Bataan. The Center shall
also promote lifelong learning as a tool for a more sustainable and developed society
by continually upgrading its programs and courses that would encourage lifelong and
life-wide education.

Support for this bill is earnestly requested.

Ata
REP. JOSE ENRIQUE S. GARCIA Ill
Seconé District, Bataan


Socardsuaune

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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 8517

Introduced by Representative Jose Enrique S. Garcia Ill

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING A TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
AUTHORITY (TESDA) TRAINING AND ASSESSMENT CENTER IN
BALANGA CITY, PROVINCE OF BATAAN, TO BE KNOWN AS THE
BALANGA CITY TESDA TRAINING AND ASSESSMENT CENTER, 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 “Balanga City TESDA
Training and Assessment Center Act’.

SEC. 2. Establishment. - There is hereby established a Technical Education
and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Training and Assessment Center in
Balanga City, Province of Bataan, under the supervision of TESDA, to be known as
the Balanga City TESDA Training and Assessment Center. It shall be established in a
highly accessible location in Brgy. Tenejero, Balanga City, Province of Bataan,
pursuant to the purposes of this Act and to the mutual agreement between TESDA
and the concerned local government units (LGUs).

SEC. 3. General Mandate. -The Balanga City TESDA Training and
Assessment Center, hereinafter referred to as the Center, shall primarily provide
technical-vocational education and training (TVET) programs to students and local
residents from low-income families and out-of-school youths, including persons with
disabilities and indigenous people, in Balanga City and the neighboring localities in the
Province of Bataan, to help them become productive, self-reliant and globally
competitive labor assets.

The Center shall offer training programs on relevant skills trade competencies,
craftmanship, and entrepreneurship activities needed to deliver the effective
employment interventions that will hasten the development of the host area and the


adjacent localities in the Province of Bataan into human resource and productivity
hubs.

The Center shall serve as TESDA-accredited Assessment Center for acquired
competencies in TVET programs in Balanga City and adjacent localities in the
Province of Bataan. It shall also provide teachers’ training and curriculum design
assistance to the secondary schools offering the technical-vocational livelihood (TVL)
track under the K to 12 Program in coordination with the Department of Education
(DepEd) and the TESDA.

SEC. 4. Training Programs - The Center shall offer short-term certificate
courses and modular trainings in preferred technical-vocational skills and trades
specialization. To this end, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE),
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Science and Technology
(DOST), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Interior and Local
Government (DILG), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA),
business-industry partners, and other relevant agencies and instrumentalities, both
local and international, shall provide the necessary assistance to enable the Center to
develop skilled manpower to achieve a robust inclusive economy in the host area and
its adjacent localities.

The Center may establish research and technology hubs, technology
development farms, satellite or extension training centers, and promote mobile training
programs to strengthen linkages among the industry partners and the academe
geared towards the acquisition of practical livelihood, employable skills, gainful
employment, and entrepreneurship in priority areas in Balanga City and neighboring
localities in the Province of Bataan.

The Center shall offer the following TVET programs with competencies
assessment leading to at least National Certification Levels I-III:

a. Skills training in industrial technology and hard trades such as metal and
‘steelwork, machine fabrication and operation, heavy equipment operation,
automotive mechanic, refrigeration and air conditioning, electronics, and
operation of power tools and equipment for both medium skills grade and
industrial purposes;

b. Agriculture and aquaculture-related trainings and farm skills development in
such areas as farming technology and farm operations, fishing operations
technology, backyard farming and home-based aquaculture and propagation
innovations, mechanized farm, fishing tools and equipment operations,
agribusiness, agri-aqua trade technology and innovations, and relevant
farmers and fisherfolks’ trainings for increased productivity and
entrepreneurship;

c. Livelihood skills development courses for preferred skills employment and
small-scale entrepreneurship, including practical skills education in arts and
crafts, workmanship and designing, high-speed sewing, dressmaking and
tailoring, horticulture, livestock raising and breeding, food processing
technology, home technology, culinary arts and commercial cooking
including baking, cosmetology, and health and wellness training;

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d. Basic business literacy training in financial management, marketing,
practical accountancy, bookkeeping and office procedures, business
processes and application procedures including registration, licensing,
documentation, business patent and intellectual property regulation,
business financing and investment opportunities sourcing, import-export
accreditation, online home-based business operation, and use of social
media business marketing;

e. Technical-vocational occupation and trades skills such as carpentry,
masonry, plumbing, welding, construction, practical electricity and
installation, automotive servicing, electronics servicing, personal computer
(PC) servicing, and such other relevant practical skills courses;

f. Computer literacy and information technology (IT)-related skills, digital
technology, web design, animation, photoshop/online photography,
computer design, and advertising;

g. Tourism and hospitality-related courses involving hotel, restaurant and
tourism development management, including social communication skills
training, development and language proficiency courses in English and other
languages for business process outsourcing (BPO) employment, and
overseas job placement;

h. Seminars on personality development, career counseling and job
placement, work ethics and values; and

i. Other priority skills and trades training that may be needed by the people of
Balanga City and of the adjacent localities of the Province of Bataan to
enhance their capacities for practical livelihood, gainful employment, and
entrepreneurial activities.

SEC. 5. Compliance with TESDA Requirements.- The provisions of this Act
notwithstanding, the Center shall become operational only upon the determination and
certification by the TESDA, through the issuance of a formal recommendation and
certificate of compliance, that the Center has satisfactorily complied with the minimum
requirements for quality prescribed by the TESDA governing the following competency
assessment: a) standard procedures and guidelines for the establishment and
operation of a Center; b) operational sustainability of the Center in terms of licensed
faculty-trainers and personnel, equipment, training and laboratory facilities,
instructional materials, and other standard requirements of a Center; c) sustainable
funding source and allocation of budget requirement; d) assurance that the training
programs offered are fully aligned with the minimum standards of competency-based
quality technical-vocational skills technology and the needs of the host area and
adjacent communities served in the context of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) integration and the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF) for
TVET; and e) compliance with such other TESDA conditionalities and standards as
may be necessary and applicable in establishing a Center.

SEC. 6. Administration. - The Center shall be headed by a Technical-
Vocational Administrator, under the supervision of the TESDA, who shall render full-
time services and be responsible for its administration and operation.

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The Technical-Vocational Administrator shall be appointed by the TESDA
Director General in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Civil Service
Commission and the qualification requirements for such office.

The Technical-Vocational Administrator shall enter into mutual agreements with
locally-based private and public counterpart agencies or instrumentalities and persons,
subject to the approval of the TESDA Director General, for such assistance as may be
necessary to effectively implement this Act.

SEC. 7. Appropriations. - The Director General of the TESDA shall include in
the Authority's program the operation of the Center, the funding of which shall be
included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

The concerned LGU, in consultation with the TESDA, shall set aside from any
available local revenue an amount deemed appropriate as annual counterpart fund to
‘support the operation of the Center herein established.

SEC. 8. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within ninety (90) days after
the approval of this Act, the TESDA, in coordination with the DOLE, DTI, DOST, DA,
Department of Budget and Management, DILG, NEDA, concerned LGUs, and such
other relevant agencies and industry-business partners of the host locality, shall
Prepare and issue the necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation
of this Act.

SEC. 9. Separability Clause. - If, for any reason, any provision of this Act shall
be deemed unconstitutional or invalid, the other provisions hereof shall not be affected
and shall remain in force and in affect.

SEC. 10. Repealing Clause. - All laws, executive orders, decrees, instructions,
rules and regulations contrary to or inconsistent with any provision of this Act are
hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

SEC. 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.