Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. _____ 
Introduced by REP. JOSE FRANCISCO “KIKO” B. BENITEZ, Ph.D. 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Sec. 2 (5), Art. XIV of the 1987 Constitution mandates the State to provide skills training for 
adult citizens. Towards this end, Congress enacted Republic Act No. 7796 in 1994 which 
created the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) “to provide 
relevant, accessible, high quality and efficient technical education and skills development.”1 
Sec. 20 of Republic Act No. 7796 directs TESDA to strengthen the network of national, 
regional and local skills training centers vocational and technical schools, technical institutes, 
polytechnic colleges, and all other duly accredited public and private dual system educational 
institutions. Accordingly, TESDA has accredited various technical and vocational institutions 
(TVI) in Negros Occidental to provide technical vocational education and training (TVET), 
and authorized several institutions to assess TVET graduates/candidates for national 
certification. 
This bill seeks to establish a TESDA training and assessment center in the Municipality of 
Murcia to widen access to TVET programs in said municipality and neighboring local 
government units. A TESDA training and assessment center in Murcia will bring TVET 
programs closer to the people of Murcia, open up new opportunities for gainful employment 
and livelihood, and contribute to poverty alleviation. 
Murcia, with a population of 88,8682, has poverty incidence of 21.3 percent in 2018,3 virtually 
unchanged from 21.6 percent in 2009.4 Through TVET programs, Murciahanons will develop 
new skill sets and enable them to acquire jobs and earn higher income.  
This bill also envisions that the Murcia TESDA training and assessment center will offer 
courses that will enhance digital literacy which will equip Murciahanons with technical and 
cognitive skills to become competitive in a digital economy and adapt to the demands of the 
Fourth Industrial Revolution. 
In view of the foregoing, the approval of this bill is earnestly sought. 
JOSE FRANCISCO “KIKO” B. BENITEZ, Ph.D. 
1  Sec.  2,  Republic  Act  No.  7796  
2  2020  Census  of  Population  and  Housing.  Philippine  Statistics  Authority  (PSA).  
3  2018  Municipal  and  City  Level  Small  Area  Poverty  Estimates.  PSA.  
4  2009  Municipal  and  City  Level  Small  Area  Poverty  Estimates.  PSA.	
  
July 26, 2022
1:20 pm
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Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. _____ 
Introduced by REP. JOSE FRANCISCO “KIKO” B. BENITEZ, Ph.D. 
AN ACT 
ESTABLISHING A TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT 
AUTHORITY (TESDA) TRAINING AND ASSESSMENT CENTER IN THE 
MUNICIPALITY OF MURCIA, PROVINCE OF NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, TO BE 
KNOWN AS THE MURCIA 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 “Murcia 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 Municipality of Murcia, 
Province of Negros Occidental, under the supervision of the TESDA, to be known as the 
Murcia TESDA Training and Assessment Center. It shall be established in a highly accessible 
location in the Municipality of Murcia, Province of Negros Occidental, pursuant to the 
purposes of this Act and to the mutual agreement between the TESDA and the concerned local 
government units (LGUs). 
SEC. 3. General Mandate. – The Murcia 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 peoples, in the 
Municipality of Murcia and the rest of the localities comprising the Third Congressional 
District of the Province of Negros Occidental to help them become productive, self-reliant and 
globally competitive labor assets. 
The Center shall offer training programs on relevant skills trade competencies, 
craftsmanship, and entrepreneurship activities needed to deliver the effective employment 
interventions that will hasten the development of the host area and adjacent localities in the 
Province of Negros Occidental into human resource and productivity hubs. 
The Center shall serve as a TESDA-accredited Assessment Center for acquired 
competencies in TVET programs in the Municipality of Murcia and other municipalities of the 
Province of Negros Occidental. It shall provide teachers' training and curriculum design 
assistance to the secondary schools offering the technical-vocational livelihood (TVL) track 
under the K to 12 Program. 
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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 the Interior and Local Government (DILG), National Economic and Development Authority 
(NEDA), business-industry partners, and such 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 and 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, the academe, and the Center geared towards the 
acquisition of practical livelihood, employable skills, gainful employment, and 
entrepreneurship in priority areas throughout the Municipality of Murcia and in adjacent areas 
in the Third District of the Province of Negros Occidental. 
 
The Center shall offer the following TVET programs with competencies assessment 
leading to 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 skills development in such areas as 
farming technology, fishing operations technology, backyard farming and home-based 
aquaculture and propagation innovations, mechanized farm, fishing tools and 
equipment operation, agribusiness and 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 design, high-speed sewing, dressmaking and tailoring, horticulture, livestock 
raising and breeding, food processing technology, home technology, culinary arts and 
commercial cooking, cosmetology, and health and wellness training; 
 
(d)  Basic business literacy training in financial management and marketing, practical 
accountancy, bookkeeping, 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, practical electricity and installation, automotive servicing, 
electronics servicing, personal computer servicing, and such other relevant practical 
skills courses; 


 
(f)   Computer literacy and information technology-related skills, digital technology, web 
design, animation, photoshop/online photography, computer design, and advertising; 
 
(g)  Social communication skills development and language proficiency courses in English 
and other languages for business process outsourcing employment and overseas job 
placement; 
 
(h)  Seminars on personality development, career counseling and job placement, work ethic 
and values; and 
 
(i)   Other preferred skills and trades training that may be needed by the people of the 
Municipality of Murcia, and other areas in the Province of Negros Occidental 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 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 standards 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 budgetary 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 for TVET; and 
 
(e)  Compliance with such other TESDA conditions 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 service and be 
responsible for the administration and operation of the Center. 
 
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 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 amount necessary to implement the provisions of this 
Act, and its continued implementation thereafter, 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 Murcia TESDA Training and Assessment Center herein established. 
 
SEC. 8. Implementing Rules and Regulations. – Within ninety (90) days after the 
approval of this Act, the TESDA shall, 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, prepare and issue the 
necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this Act. 
 
SEC. 9. Separability Clause. – If, for any reason, any section of this Act shall be deemed 
unconstitutional or invalid, the other sections or provisions hereof shall not be affected and 
shall remain in force and effect. 
 
SEC. 10. Repealing Clause. – All laws, executive orders, decrees, instructions, rules and 
regulations contrary to or inconsistent with any provision of this Act are repealed or amended 
accordingly. 
 
SEC. 11. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication 
in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation. 
 
Approved,