Republic of the Philippines j
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES f
Quezon City ;

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
‘Third Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 6534

Introduced by Hon, ANGELO B. PALMONES

EXPLANATORY NOTE

‘The Philippines is an archipelago made up of more than 7,100 islands. Its coastline is about
35,000 km, longer than that of the United States. This means that the country is surrounded
by large bodies of water,

‘The country is also visited by about twenty (20) typhoons a year dumping rain-water often
causing floods. Metro-Manila and most of Luzon experienced the fury of “habagat” or
southwest monsoon where most of Metro-Manila and several provinces went under water and
even now there are many municipalities that are still under water about a month after the
rains and the affected areas are expecting that the floods will stay for another one month or
two. This floods and high water have claimed many lives. People who know how to swim
have better chances of survival those without such skill

Needless to say one of the skills necessary for survival in the presence of high water is the
ability to swim. This skill is often leamed by the children themselves without the benefit of
formal instructions and training. Swimming is not a compulsory subject in most elementary
and high schools simply because the schools do not have swimming pools, There may
therefore be a need to establish swimming pools in a municipality that can be shared by
schools within the municipality or hire swimming pools during swimming classes, Swimming
should be included as a mandatory subject under physical education starting in the third grade
to high school

‘The importance of swimming cannot be over-emphasized in the light of constant threat from

floods and high water in the country.
ANGELQ B, PALMONES
Representptive, AGHAM Party-list



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
‘Third Regular Session

6534

Introduced by Hon. ANGELO B. PALMONES

AN ACT MAKING SWIMMING A MANDATORY SUBJECT IN SCHOOL
CURRICULUM FOR THE ELEMENTARY AND HIGH SCHOOLS

Section 1. State policy — It is the policy of the State to “establish, maintain, and support a
complete, adequate, and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people
and society”. Furthermore, the State maintains that “All educational institutions shall
undertake regular sports activities throughout the country in cooperation with athletic clubs
and other sectors”. It is also the policy of the state to protect each citizen from harin be it
human-induced or from natural causes, and to this end the State shall provide the necessary
skills and knowledge to every citizen to protect himself from such harm.

Section 2. Swimming as a mandatory subject in physical education in the elementary and
high school curricula — The Department of Education (DepEd) is hereby mandated to
include swimming as a mandatory subject in the physical education curriculum in the
elementary and high school curriculum. The DepEd shall determine the grades in the
elementary and in high school where swimming is mandatory but of sufficient duration to
impart the necessary skills to make the student able to swim by himself/herself.

Section 3. Funds for the establishment of swimming pools and other paraphernalia for the
teaching of swimming in public schools — The sum of five hundred million pesos
(P500,000,000) shall be appropriated yearly to the DepEd to allow it to establish swimming
facilities in every school or cluster of schools to implement this Act until such time that all
schools have swimming facilities. The DepEd is also authorized part of this fund to hire or
rent swimming facilities for the implementation of this Act. Private schools shall provide
their own facilities for implementing this Act.

Section 4, Implementing rules and regulations — The DepEd shall promulgate the
implementing rules and regulations of this Act within 60 days after enactment.

Section 5 Repealing cause. All Acts or parts of Acts, executive orders and their
implementing rules inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, amended
or modified accordingly,

Section 6. Separability cause. If any provision of this Act is declared invalid, the remainder
of this Act or any provisions not affected thereby shall remain in force and in effect.

Section 7. This Act shall take effect upon its approval

Approved