Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
Second Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. 9987 
Introduced by Representative Jude A. Acidre 
AN ACT 
GRANTING FREE ASSESSMENT FEE FOR SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS 
(SHS) 
UNDER 
THE 
SENIOR 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 
TRAINING-VOCATIONAL-
LIVELIHOOD TRACK, AND OTHER SHS TRACKS REQUIRING CERTIFICATIONS, 
AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREOF 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Republic Act No. 10533, otherwise known as the “Enhanced Basic Education 
Act of 2013,” increased the number of years in the basic education from ten (10) years 
to twelve (12) years to make the Philippines at par with the global education standards. 
The additional two years in the Basic Education is the Senior High School (SHS) 
Curriculum, where the students can choose among four tracks – academic, technical-
vocational and livelihood (TVL), sports, and arts & design – to better prepare them for 
entrepreneurship, college education, or employment. Further, the TVL track has five 
(5) strands: agri-fishery arts; home economics; industrial arts; information and
communications technology (ICT); and TVL maritime.
The specific offerings under each of the TVL strands use the Training 
Regulations (TR) of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) 
that qualifies TVL strand students for assessments in corresponding Certificates of 
Competency (COC) and National Certifications (NC). These certificates increase 
career opportunities in agriculture, electronics, and trade and are required when 
applying for employment abroad. 
February 26, 2024
5:01 pm


To implement the TVL program, the Department of Education1 issued a 
regulation on a Joint Delivery Voucher Program for Senior High School Technical 
Vocational and Livelihood Specializations (JDVP-TVL), which is designed to optimize 
TVL learning by allowing SHS students enrolled in public schools to avail of vouchers 
and take their TVL specializations in eligible partner institutions from either private or 
non-DepEd public SHSs, as well as TVIs, offering their desired specializations. The 
combination of one to four specializations, to include tuition and other expenses (e.g., 
learning materials, consumables for workshop, operational and miscellaneous) for the 
TVL training needed to complete applicable specializations for Grade 12. 
Under the current JDVP-TVL voucher program, the assessment fee to attain 
COCs and NCs is not included. As pointed out by a Philippine Institute of Development 
Studies2 study, “there is a clamor to subsidizing the fees for taking the NC exams for 
TVL graduates, particularly for students from poorer households. The NCs are 
expected to boost SHS graduates’ probability of being hired. If they are not able to 
take certification assessments for one reason or the other, then it deprives them of the 
chance of getting certified.” Moreover, the study added that the government should 
“explore the possibility of supporting students who are required to take the exam by 
their employers but cannot afford the exam fees in taking NC exams. Maybe an 
amount can be set aside from existing fund and a mechanism be put in place.” 
This bill seeks to squarely address the issue of including the assessment fee 
as part of the government subsidy program for the SHS curriculum, to include all tracks 
that require COCs and NCs, to better to achieve the SHS objective of the employability 
of students after finishing the program. 
With this paramount consideration on hand, the passage of this bill is thus 
earnestly sought.  
Rep. JUDE A. ACIDRE 
Representative, Tingog Sinirangan
1 DepEd Order No. 40, s. 2021, Guidelines on the Implementa1on of the Joint Delivery Voucher Program for Senior High School 
Technical-Voca1onal-Livelihood Specializa1ons For School Year 2021-2022 
2 Brilliantes, K., Orbeta Jr., A., Francisco-Abrigo,K., Capones, E. and Jovellanos, K. (2019). Status of Senior High School 
ImplementaLon: A Process EvaluaLon. Discussion Paper Series No. 2019-13 


Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
Second Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. 9987 
Introduced by Representative Jude A. Acidre 
AN ACT 
GRANTING FREE ASSESSMENT FEE FOR SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS 
(SHS) 
UNDER 
THE 
SENIOR 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 
TRAINING-VOCATIONAL-
LIVELIHOOD TRACK, AND OTHER SHS TRACKS REQUIRING CERTIFICATIONS, 
AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREOF 
Be it enacted by the Senate at the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
Section 1.  Short Title. – This Act shall be known as the “Free Certification 
Assessment Fee for Senior High School TVL and other tracks.” 
Section 2. Declaration of Policy. – It is declared policy of the State to promote 
full employment, equality of employment opportunities, a rising standard of living, and 
an improved quality of life for all, complementary to the policy of the State to promote 
and make equality education accessible to all Filipino citizens, especially the youth. 
Towards this end, the State shall encourage the certification of Senior High School 
(SHS) students under the technical-vocational and livelihood (TVL) track and other 
tracks requiring national certifications, through the granting of free assessment fee for 
such certifications, for their immediate employability. 
Section 3. Free National Certification Assessment Fee for SHS students 
under the TVL and other Tracks. – All Senior High School (SHS) students under the 
TVL, and other tracks that require national certifications, are granted free assessment 
fee for certifications of competency or national certifications conducted by the 


Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). Provided, That the 
amount required to implement the free national certification assessment fees program 
shall be determined by the Department of Education (DepEd) based on the projected 
number of enrollees for the TVL, and other tracks that require national certifications, 
for each academic year, which shall be a factor in computing the annual proposed 
budget of DepEd. This shall in turn shall serve as the baseline during the preparation 
of the annual National Expenditure Programs (NEP) by the Department of Budget and 
Management (DBM).  
 
Section 4. Appropriations. – The Secretary of Education shall include in the 
Department’s program the operationalization of the free assessment fees for TESDA 
national certifications, the initial funding of which shall be charged against the current 
appropriations of the DepEd. Thereafter, the amount necessary for continued 
implementation of this program shall be included in the annual General Appropriations 
Act. 
 
Section 5. Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). – Within ninety (90) 
days from the effectivity of this Act, the DepEd, in coordination with the TESDA, shall 
promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this 
Act. Provided, That the non-promulgation of the rules and regulations provided under 
this section shall not prevent the immediate implementation of this Act upon effectively.  
 
Section 6. Separability Clause. – If any provision of this Act is declared invalid 
or unconstitutional, the other provisions hereof which are not affected thereby shall 
continue to be in full force and effect.  
 
Section 7. Repealing Clause. – All laws, decrees, executive orders, letters of 
instructions, proclamations, rules and regulations, or parts thereof inconsistent with 
this Act shall be deemed notified, amended, or repealed accordingly.  
 
Section 8. Effectivity Clause. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after 
its complete publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation. 
 
 
Approved,