w
EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
)
REPUBLIC CF THE PHILIPPINES 
)
First Regular Session 
)
^euRte
of tl)C deccetarp
20 MAY “4
SENATE
Introduced by Senator Francis "Tol" N. Tolentino
AN ACT
AUTHORIZING THE DEFERMENT OF THE START OF THE SCHOOL YEAR IN 
TIMES Or EMERGENCIES AND CALAMITIES, AMENDING FOR THE 
PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7977 AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
EXPLANATORY NOTE
The country is continuously waging war against the COVID-19 pandemic 
which has claimed lives of more than 500 Filipinos already. Through the 
implementation of the extended enhanced community quarantine and the 
improvement of our testing and containment capabilities, the country hopes to 
control the contagion immediately to allow the society to function once again and 
give the Filipinos a sense of normalcy as soon as possible.
In a study by the Philippines Institute for Development Studies entitled 
"Projected Disease Transmission, Health System Requirements, and Macro-economic 
Impacts of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the Philippines", it revealed 
that with moderately aggressive efforts of implementing the enhanced community 
quarantine coupled with better testing, the pandemic in the country would peak on 
October of 2020 with 5.2 million cases and in the best case scenario that the country 
with better testing and turnaround time, is able to isolate 70% of symptomatic 
cases, the significantly lower peak of 900,000 cases would still be on June 2021.


There really still no certainty as to when the country will be able to effectively 
control this contagion and this will certainly put students at risk of contracting the 
disease as they attend and congregate in schools in the usual opening of classes in
June of 2020.
To prevent this from happening, the Inter Agency Task Force against the 
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has recommended that the opening of classes 
for school year 2020-2021 should be moved to late September of 2020 which was 
supported by President Rodrigo Duterte. It would be more prudent to defer the start 
of classes in order to afford the government and the schools more time to effectively 
implement safety measures to secure the health of the students attending their 
classes and to devise possible online learning programs and other non-face-to-face 
learning systems to enable the students to learn outside the school premises.
Hovv/ever, the law on the matter, Republic Act No. 7977, does not allow for 
such safety measure as it provides that the start of the school year should not be 
later than che last day of August. Hence, there is a need to amend the law.
This bill, therefore, seeks to authorize the Secretary of the Department of 
Education to defer the opening of classes and the start of the school year, in his 
discretion, to a date later than the last day of August in times of emergencies and 
calamities prior to the start of a school year.
in view of the foregoing, the passage of this bill is earnestly sought.
TOL" N. TOLENTINO


i
EIGHTcEMTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session
)
)
)
SENATE
S. No. 1457
Senate
of tftf SfttrUtirp
20 HAY --f A9.*25/
RECEH'-D
Introduced by Senator Francis "Tol" N. Tolentino
AN ACT
AUTHORIZING THE DEFERMENT OF THE START OF THE SCHOOL YEAR IN 
TI^ES OF EMERGENCIES AND CALAMITIES, AMENDING FOR THE 
PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7977 AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Be it enacted by die Senate and House of Representatives oftiie Philippines in 
Congress assembled:
1 
Secticn 1. Amendment - Section 3 of Republic Act No. 7977, is hereby
2 
amended to read as follows:
3 
"SEC, 3, Start of the School Year. - The school year shall start on the first
4 
Monday of June but not later than the last day of August. PROVIDED, THAT
5 
IN Tlf^ES OF EMERGENCIES AND CALAMITIES, THE SECRETARY OF
6 
THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, HEREINAFTER REFERRED TO AS
7 
'“SECRETARY", MAY DEFER THE START OF THE SCHOOL YEAR TO A
s 
DATS LATER THAN THE LAST DAY OF AUGUST. THE SECRETARY MAY
9 
Also defer the start of the school year only for
10 
particular regions or schools IF THE ENTIRE COUNTRY IS
11 
NOT AFFECTED BY THE EMERGENCY OR CALAMITY NECESSITATING
12 
THE DEFERMENT.
13


1
2
3
*v
5
6
7
8
In the implementation of this Act, the Secretary OF EDUCATION; CULTURE 
i^PIO-SPORTS shall determine the end of the regular school year, taking into 
consideration the Christmas and summer vacations, and the peculiar 
circumstances of each region.
In the exercise of this authority, the Secretary OF-EDUCATION/ CULTURE 
^-i^-SPORTS may authorize the holding of Saturday classes for elementary 
and secondary levels for public and private schools."
10 Sec. 2. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this Act is declared 
21 unconstitutional or invalid, other sections or parts thereof not affected thereby shall
12 
remain in full force and effect.
13 
Sec. 3. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and
14 
regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby
15 
repealed or modified accordingly.
16 
Sec. 4. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
17 
complete publication in the Official Gazette or in at least one (1) newspaper of
18 
genera! circulation.
Approved,