Presidential Decree No. 798 (PD 798) — Authorizing the Confinement in Rehabilitation Centers or Reformatories of Truants and Youths Out of School for No Legitimate Reason.
WHEREAS, the youth of the land is a significant human
resource for nation building;
WHEREAS, there are many truant and out-of-school youths who
are merely wasting their time and leading irresolute lives or exhausting
their potentialities in nonproductive and troublesome activities;
WHEREAS, it is imperative that these youths should devote
their time and direct their energies to the pursuit of their education
or training in certain endeavors to the end that they may become useful
members of society;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the
Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution,
do hereby decree:
SECTION 1. Any person of school age and who is not attending
school without any legitimate reason, shall be subject to confinement
at any rehabilitation center or reformatory as hereinafter provided.
For purposes of this Decree, a legitimate reason for being out of
school may be any of the following:
Poverty
Illness
Grave physical or mental defect
Failure to obtain accommodation in any public school due
to over-enrolment in such school
Other analogous reasons
SEC. 2. Any person who is enrolled in school but who stays
out of school for a period of more than five consecutive school days or
for intermittent periods of less duration but with such regularity as to
affect the continuity of his schooling, without permission from the
school authorities and or for no legitimate reason as defined in the
preceding paragraph shall fall within the purview of this Decree.
SEC. 3. Upon verified petition of either of a youth's
parents, or, in their default, his guardian, or of any person in
authority in the municipality or city where such youth resides, filed
with the proper Court of First Instance of the province or city, as the
case may be, or, where such youth is under 16 years of age, with the
Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in provinces or cities where such a
court has been established, such youth may, upon due finding by said
court that he is out of school for no legitimate reason or a truant
within the purview of section 1 or 2 hereof, respectively, be ordered
confined at any rehabilitation center or reformatory as shall be
determined by the same court.
SEC. 4. A confinement order issued under the preceding
section, shall be immediately executory and no appeal may be taken
therefrom. In the case of a youth, out of school within the purview of
SEC. 5. An order of confinement under this Decree shall
not be considered a penalty. All proceedings undertaken in connection
with the petition filed under Section 3 hereof shall be confidential and
all records of such proceedings shall be destroyed immediately upon the
dismissal of said petition, or upon the release of the person ordered
confined pursuant to the same section.
SEC. 6. This Decree shall take effect immediately;
Provided, That out-of-school youths who have failed to enroll during the
enrolment period immediately preceding the effectivity of this Decree
shall not be subject to confinement as prescribed herein; but the
provisions of this section shall apply to them if they should fail for
no legitimate reason to enroll in the enrolment period immediately
following the effectivity hereof.
Done in the City of Manila, this 11th day of September, in the
year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-five.
(Sgd.)
FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President
Republic of the Philippines
By the President:
(Sgd.)
ROBERTO V. REYES
Acting Executive Secretary
section 1 hereof, the period of confinement shall last until such time
as the person confined shall have been enrolled in the appropriate
school recognized by the government or shall have learned a useful
trade, vocation or occupation in the rehabilitation center or
reformatory as determined by the head thereof.
In the case of a truant within the purview of section 2
hereof, he shall not be ordered confined immediately but shall be
granted a probational period of two school months within which to
correct his truancy by attending school regularly. If he should within
this period show no signs of correcting his truancy, he shall be ordered
confined in the rehabilitation center or reformatory for the same
period mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
