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Republic of the Philippines:
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 1674

“

Introduced by HON. LUIS RAYMUND “LRAY” F. VILLAFUERTE, JR.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The evident relationship between technological innovation and economic
growth is undeniable. It has been proven time and again by our Asian neighbors
Japan, South Korea, and even Taiwan, whose major exports of electronic devices
from handheld gadgets to robots have propelled the dramatic turnaround of their
once sluggish economies. In 1933, the Philippines likewise aimed to strengthen its
scientific research foundation by establishing the National Research Council of the
Philippines (NRCP) by virtue of the Ninth Philippine Legislature Act No. 4120.

The NRCP is mandated to promote and support the fundamental research of
Filipino scientists and researchers, provide advice on national policy grounded on
scientific study and empirical data, promote a culture of scientific and technological
research, and foster linkages with local and international scientific organizations for
enhanced cooperation in the development and sharing of information.

Over the course of 85 years since its creation, the NRCP has been touched
by various laws and executive orders’ which shaped it to be the agency that it is
today. Unfortunately, recent reports from the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reveal that the Philippines still lags way behind
the standard number of researchers at only 189 researchers for every 1 million
people when more than double that is the recommended figure®. The low number of

' See RA 2067, EO 784, EO 128, and RA 6974
!htips://www.rappler.comy science-nature/society-culture/ 16987 1-philippines-better-place-sci

ists


researchers reflects on the proportionally small quantity of research data published
within our jurisdiction.

This Representation proposes the urgent overhaul of the NRCP by updating
its mandate and expected output, as well as empowering the council through a
revised organizational framework and additional funding.

Through a stronger and more efficient NRCP, the bill envisions a thriving
Filipino scientific community that works hand in hand with our people and policy-
makers in adopting programs, systems and laws for the benefit of various economic
and social welfare sectors.

In light of the foregoing premises, the passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

” F, VILLAFUERTE, JR.


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quejon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. _1674

Introduced by HON. LUIS RAYMUND “LRAY” F. VILLAFUERTE, JR.

AN ACT
STRENGTHENING THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE PHILIPPINES
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR THE
PROMOTION OF RESEARCH WORK ALONG SCIENTIFIC LINES AND
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Title. - This Act shall be known as the “National Research Council of the
Philippines Act of 2018.”

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. - in consonance with the provisions of section
10, Article XIV of the Constitution, which provides that the State shall give priority to
research and development, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the state to
promote research and science or evidence-based policy in legislation and government
administration.

The State shall support the harmonization of national research agenda,
including but not limited to the National Integrated Basic Research Agenda (NIBRA)
and the utilization of research in the crating of development plans in national and local
governments that will redound to progress and well-being of the people. It shall also
endeavor to decentralize research efforts that will expand opportunities for training
and providing budget available to researchers , scholars and scientists in the provinces
that will accelerate inclusive development. Empowering the researchers in provinces
will narrow the disparity on the state of research between the National Capital Region
(NCR) and the provinces.

The State shall provide support for the creation of clearing house in basic and
frontier research, registry of researchers and scientists who are doing basic and
frontier research, This also includes the added role of NRCP to conduct impact
assessment of researches, and establishment of a Center for Research and


Development (R&D), and of a Research for Development (R for D) training in all the
regions of the country

SECTION 3. Objectives. - The Council shall have the following purposes and
objectives:

a) Stimulate and support research in the mathematical, physical and biological
sciences, engineering, agriculture, medicine, social sciences, humanities and the arts,
with the objective of increasing knowledge, starting studies of problems of the national
defense and security, and contributing in other ways to the public welfare;

b) Survey the larger possibilities of sciences, to formulate comprehensive projects of
research including but not limited to the National Integrated Basic Research Agenda
(NIBRA), and develop effective means of utilizing the scientific and technical
resources of the country for dealing with these projects;

©) Promote cooperation in research in all the regions of the country and abroad in
order to secure concentration of effort, instill ethical standards, minimize duplication,
and stimulate progress; but in all cooperative undertakings to give encouragement to
individual initiative as fundamentally important to the advancement of science;

d) Gather and collate scientific and technical information at home and abroad, in
cooperation with governmental and other agencies and to render such information
available to duly accredited persons;

) Promote the continuing total development of the Filipino scientist and researcher
as a professional and as member of the larger society;

f) Serve as consultative body to government policy-makers in matters relating to
sciences for development, defense and security; and to provide a forum for discussion
and formulation of scientific plans and policies;

9) Provide research-based recommendations to legislations and in the crafting of laws
or plans that are of national and local importance geared towards solving problems of
the country. Government institutions, agencies and instrumentalities shall endeavor to
incorporate or embed evidence-based research or studies in the development and
passage of laws within their jurisdiction. Corollary to this, the Council shall study and
monitor the development of research or evidence-based policies in the government;

h) Establish a custodial/ repository for basic and frontier research; and become the
registry and certifying agency for basic and frontier researchers;


i) Contribute in providing support mechanism and capacitate the research capabilities
of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) / State Universities and Colleges (SUCs),
government agencies, and local government units;

j) Investigate, examine, experiment, survey and report any subject of importance as
called upon by any branch or Department of the Government, Regional Development
Councils (RDC) and by the various Local Government Units (LGUs).

SECTION 4. Scope. — The law shall have local and national application involving
research for development in all the regions of the country.

SECTION 5. Definition of Terms.

a) Accreditation — is the process in which an authoritative body formally recognizes
the competence of researchers to conduct research and other related activities based
on the prescribed criteria, guidelines and standards defined by the Council.

b) Clearing House — an agenoy or organization that collects and distributes something
specially information

c) Research — is systematic study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding
of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific
applications towards processes or products in mind. Also called pure research or
fundamental research, is scientific research aimed to improve scientific theories for
improved understanding or prediction of natural or other phenomena. Basic research
can also be defined as creative work undertaken to increase the stock knowledge,
including knowledge of man, culture and society.

d) Repository — a place in which public records are maintained and preserved under
the custody and control of a government office.

e) Registry —is a record of document for registration entered in the appropriate registry
book.

f) Evidence-based ~ supported by a large amount of scientific research

9) Capacity building - planned development of (or increase in) knowledge, output rate,
management skills, and other capabilities of an organization through acquisition,
incentives, technology, and/ or training.

h) Human development — is defined as the process of enlarging people's choices,
freedoms and opportunities and improving their well-being. A measurement of
achievements by humans through advancement of knowledge, biological changes,
habit formation or other criteria that displays changes of standard of living over time


i) Interdisciplinary — combining or involving two or more academic discipline of field of
study.

j) Frontier Research — an undeveloped field of study; a topic inviting research and
development; usually addresses highly controversial issues in the scientific community
in the area being explored, deals with hard to answer queries employing normal
methodological approaches, employs methodologies and concepts atypical for
concemed field, takes unexpected findings challenging dominant paradigm used,
focuses on issues where resolution is critical for confirmation or rebuttal of the
prevailing paradigm, and involves research with extreme degree of uncertainty or
failure (high cost, high risk of failure).

k) National Research — refers to inclusive quality research and innovation programs
that involve the various disciplines in the sciences and humanities; concerned with
national or facets of national concem, and entailing multidisciplinary and
interdisciplinary research and training. It aims to achieve research impact, academic
impact, as well as societal and economic impact.

k. 4. Academic impact refers to the contribution that quality research makes to
developments and advances, across ad within disciplines, such as advances
in knowledge, method, theory, and application

k. 2. Societal and economic impact refers to the contribution that quality
research makes to society and the economy, beneficial to individuals, their way
of life, and to national development.

SECTION 6. Powers. - The Council shall have the following powers:

(1) Make its own organization, be incorporated, constituted, and declared a corporate
body by the name of National Research Council of the Philippines;

(2) Adopt, alter and use a corporate seal;

(8) Provide implementing rules and regulations to determine its membership, fill
vacancies created by death, resignation or otherwise; shall hold an annual meeting at
such place and time as may be determined by the Board; to provide for the election of
the Governing Board members, division into classes, and other matters needful or
usual in such institution;

(4) Collect, receive and maintain a fund or funds from government appropriations and
from donations, grants, gifts, bequests, loans from domestic and foreign sources, and
to apply the income and principal thereof to the promotion of its aims and purposes;


(5) Own, manage and hold such real and personal property as shall be necessary for
the Council's purposes;

(6) Corollary to its purposes and objectives, to extend financial assistance to, and enter
into contracts of every kind and for any lawful purpose, with any person, firm,
association or corporation, domestic or foreign, or others in which it has a lawful
interest;

(7) Shall have the authority to invest its funds in such undertaking as it may deem
beneficial or necessary to carry out its objectives;

(8) Conduct joint intemational studies with other research councils or research
councils or research institutions;

(9) Extend research support along multi-disciplinal, inter-disciplinal and trans-
disciplinal scientific lines in the conduct of forecast studies along security, defense,
development, resiliency and disaster preparedness of the country; and

(10) Investigate, examine, experiment and report upon any subject of science or art,
whenever callled upon by any department of the government.

SECTION 7. The Governing Board. — The affairs of the National Research Council
shall be administered by a Governing Board (GB), as public officials, which shall

consist of two members-at-large, the Chairpersons of the Scientific Divisions, and the
DOST Secretary or his/ her designate.

The officers if the National Research Council shall consist of a President, Vice-
President, a Corporate Secretary and a Treasurer. The President of the National
Research Council or in case of his absence or inability to act, the Vice-President shall
be the Chief Executive Officer of the Council and shall preside over the meetings of
‘the Council and of the Governing Board.

A majority of the members of the GB shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of the business of the GB.

SECTION 8. Functions and Responsibilities of the Governing Board. - The
Governing shall have the following functions:

(1) Formulate and adopt policies and measures for the management and operation of
the Council including the admission of its members;

(2) Elect the President of the Council who shall come from among the elected
members of the Board;


(3) Approve the staffing pattem of the Council;

(4) Promulgate rules and regulations for the discharge of its powers and functions and
the internal operations of the Council; provided, that, the Chair of the GB shall exercise
the power to appoint, promote discipline, or remove the personnel of the Council;

(5) Manage the financial affairs of the Council and approve the annual budget of
receipt and expenditures of the Council according to its requirements;

(6) Monitor and review periodically the programs and projects of the Council; and

(7) Modify the number of divisions and grouping of subjects to meet the changing
needs of science in the country.

SECTION 9. President of the Council. - The President of the Council shall be
elected by the Governing Board annually and shall serve for one (1) year, and may be
reelected for a maximum of three (3) years. He shall be the executive officer of the
Council and shall receive honoraria as may be determined by the Governing Board;
and shall have the following powers and duties:

(1) Prepare, for the approval of the GB, the staffing pattern of the Council, which shall
include the determination of the qualifications, and fixing the number and
compensation of such officials and personnel as may be necessary for the proper
discharge of the functions of the Council;

(2) Have control and supervision over the personnel, staff, operations and internal
administration of the council in accordance with existing laws and rules and regulations
promulgated by the Governing Board;

(3) Recommend to the GB such policies and measures which helshe deems
necessary for the effective exercise and discharge of the powers and responsibilities
of the Council; and

(4) Submit the annual report to the GB on the operations, the status of the programs
funded by, the financial condition of the Council, including a recommendation for its
budget for the ensuing year.

SECTION 10. Executive Director. — There shall be an Executive Director (ED) who
shall be appointed by the Governing Board and shall have the rank of bureau
directorate, with a plantilla position. The ED shall exercise administrative supervision
over the personnel, staff of the Council and shall be the primary implementer of the
policies and guidelines set by the GB.


SECTION 11. Research Fellows. - The Council is hereby authorized to engage its
members-researchers to conduct specialized studies and researches for the Council.
Those engaged by the Council shall be issued appointments as Researcher Fellows
and shall be paid, as they are hereby authorized to be paid, an honoraria determined
by the Governing Board.

SECTION 12. Endowment Fund. ~ An NCRP Endowment Fund shall be established,
Which shall be self-sustaining and shall consist of contributions, donations, grants, or
loans from domestic and/ or foreign sources, government subsidies and other income
accruing from the operations of the Council. For the initial organizational and
operational requirements of the Council, there is hereby appropriated the sum of FIVE
HUNDRED MILLION PESOS (Php 500,000,000.00). Hereafter, funding for the
operational activities of the Council shall be generated by the Council from earings
of this Fund.

In granting the endowment fund, the national government shall provide a 3-year
allocation beginning from the year of the approval of the law.

The NCRP is hereby authorized and empowered to receive bequests and
donations, and to hold the same in trust, to be applied by the said Council in aid of
scientific investigations, examinations and experiments.

SECTION 13. Countryside Research Fund. An NRCP Research Fund shall be
established and appropriated out of any fund in the National Treasury not otherwise
appropriated the sum of FIVE HUNDRED MILLION PESOS (Php 500,000,000.00)
This shall serve the purpose of equitable funding of research initiatives all throughout
the country (Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region
(BAR) except NCR) and most especially in regions rarely proposing and hence would
receive funding for research purposes. The said research fund would equip the
Council of much needed resource for countryside capacity building, human
development and thus serve to fulfil its mandate.

In granting the countryside research fund, the national government shall
provide a 3-year allocation beginning from the year of the approval of the law.

SECTION 14. Government Contribution to Research Funding - There shall be an
amount not less than 10% of the Research and Development budget included in the
annual budget of the DOST as contribution in financing the research activities of the
Council for national application. Other goverment agencies are hereby authorized to
include in their respective annual budget such necessary amounts as their contribution
through the funding of certain research activities of the Council. These contributions
shall be managed under a separate account. The Council shall submit to the Secretary
of DOST a program of work with budget estimates for each calendar year, not later
than the 28" of February of the preceding year.


In order to pursue the defense and security research agenda of the country, the
Department of National Defense (DND) and other agencies with a mandate to promote
public well-being are authorized and empowered to allocate funds to the National
Research Council of the Philippines in the conduct of such researches along scientific
lines

To ensure the availability of research funds in the local government units
particularly the provinces, cities and municipalities, a 1% allotment for research from
its annual budget shall be provided for such purpose in the utilization along the NIBRA
and Regional Development Council (RDC) Agenda, as such the LGU shall seek
clearance and review from the NRCP to guarantee equitable provision for research in
the countryside vis-a-vis Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

SECTION 15. Regional Offices. - In order to decentralize research and empower the
capacity of the regions to perform policy researches, satellite offices attached to the
DOST shall be established in all regional areas. The Regional Offices shall oversee
the NRCP regional chapters, which will be established in order to address region-
specific concems and to promote a science of culture in the regions.

SECTION 16. Exemption from taxes. - Any provision of law to the contrary
notwithstanding, any donation, contribution, bequest, subsidy or financial aid which
may be made to the Council shall be exempt from taxes of any kind and shall constitute
allowable deductions in full from the income of the donors or grantors for income tax
purposes.

The Council, its assets, acquisitions, income and its operations and
transactions shall be exempt from any and all taxes, fees, charges, imports, licenses
and assessments, direct or indirect, imposed by the Republic of the Philippines or any
of its political subdivisions. In carrying out its functions, and its purposes and powers
provided in this Act, the Council shall be exempt from the payment of all internal
revenue taxes, fees, assessment and other charges of govemment.

SECTION 17. Reporting Responsibility. — The National Research Council of the
Philippines shall submit regularly an annual to both Houses of Congress and to the
Office of the President, an accurate account of its work and activities during the
corresponding fiscal year.

SECTION 18. Building Site. - The parcel of land presently occupied by the National
Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP), more particularly described and
delineated under Proclamation No. 376, Series of 1968, for building site and science
community site purposes, containing an area of fourteen thousand four hundred
sixteen (14,416) sq. meters, is hereby permanently transferred to NRCP.


SECTION 19. Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). — The NRCP with other
concerned government departments, agencies and representatives mentioned in
Section 8 hereof shall within ninety (90) days from the effectivity of this Act issue the
necessary implementing rules and regulations of this Act.

SECTION 20. Repealing Clause. ~ All laws, orders, proclamation, rules and
regulation or parts thereof, which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, are
hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 21. Separability Clause. - Any provision or part of this Act declared invalid
of unconstitutional, the other provisions hereof which are not affected are thereby
repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 22. Effectivity Clause. — This Act shall take effect fifteen days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in a national newspaper of general circulation

Approved,