Presidential Decree No. 944 (PD 944) — Converting the Present Regional Normal Schools and Teachers College Under the Bureau of Public Schools into Chartered State Colleges.
WHEREAS, the Constitution of the Philippines directs the
State to establish and maintain a complete, adequate and integrated
system of education relevant to the goals of national development, and
further prescribes that all educational institutions shall aim to
develop scientific, technological and vocational efficiency;
WHEREAS, under Presidential Decree No. 6-A promulgated on
September 19, 1972, it has been declared a policy to reorient the
educational system toward an accelerated national economic growth;
WHEREAS, the conversion of the Bukidnon Normal School, Cebu
Normal College, Leyte Normal School, and Northern Luzon Teachers College
into the Bukidnon State College, Cebu State College, Leyte State
College, and Northern. Luzon State College, respectively, broadening for
this purpose its curricular programs, would serve to achieve the above
national goals;
WHEREAS, the conversion of said normal schools and teachers
college into state colleges is in furtherance of the recommendations of
the Presidential Commission to Survey Philippine Education for the
development of national standards of higher education and the better
allocation of government resources for education while preserving the
basic autonomy of the institutions concerned.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the
Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution,
do hereby decree and order:
SECTION 1. The above three regional normal schools and one
teachers college under the Bureau of Public Schools are hereby converted
respectively into the following state colleges:
The Bukidnon Normal School located in Malaybalay, Bukidnon
into the Bukidnon State College;
The Cebu Normal College located in Cebu City into the Cebu
State College;
The Leyte Normal School located in Tacloban City into the Leyte
State College; and
The Northern Luzon Teachers College located in Laoag City into
the Northern Luzon State College.
Each of said Colleges shall offer four-year and five-year courses
leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education,
Bachelor of Science in Education Bachelor of Science in Home Economics,
Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Master of Arts in Education
Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Education, Science Arts and
Letters, as the graduate and undergraduate level are deemed useful and
necessary to realize the purpose of each College.
SEC. 2. The purpose of each College shall be to provide
professional and technical instruction in the fields of elementary,
secondary and collegiate education in science, as well as in the
humanities for their respective service area.
SEC. 3. The head of each College shall be known as
President. He shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines
upon the recommendation of the Board of Trustees. The powers and duties
of the President of each College, in addition to those specifically
provided for in this Decree, shall be those usually pertaining to the
office of the president of the college.
SEC. 4. Each College shall exercise the general
powers-set out in Section Thirteen of Act Numbered Fourteen Hundred and
Fifty-nine, as amended. The governance and administration of each
College and the exercise of its corporate powers shall be vested
exclusively in the Board of Trustees and in the President of the College
insofar as authorized by said Board. The Board of Trustees shall be
composed of the Secretary of Education and Culture who shall be
ex-officio Chairman of the Board, the Director of Higher Education, the
Presidents of said Colleges and two (2) prominent citizens of the Region
to be appointed by the President of the Philippines. Of the two
appointed members, one shall be an authority on science and the other on
arts and letters, either one of whom shall be an alumnus of the
college. In the absence of the Secretary of Education and Culture or in
case of inability to act as Chairman of the Board, or in the event that
there is no incumbent Secretary of Education and Culture, his functions
as such shall be temporarily performed by the Undersecretary of
Education and Culture.
SEC. 5. The members of the Board of
Trustees shall be entitled to an allowance of fifty pesos per meeting
actually attended but not more than three hundred pesos per month: Provided,
That they shall be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses
incurred either in attendance at the meetings of the Board or in
connection with other official business authorized by resolution of the
Board.
SEC. 6. The Board of Trustee shall exercise for each
College all the powers of a corporation as provided in Section thirteen
of Act Numbered Fourteen Hundred and Fifty-nine, as amended. In addition
to its general powers of administration, it shall also have the
following powers and duties:
To receive and appropriate to the ends specified by law such
funds as may be provided by law for the support of each College;
To confer the degrees of Bachelor of Science in Elementary
Education, Bachelor of Science in Education, Bachelor of
Science in Home Economics, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Master
of Arts in Education, Master of Education, Master of Arts in
Teaching, and such other degrees in Education, Science and Letters
as may be offered hereafter to successful candidate for graduation.
To appoint, on recommendation of the President of each
College, a Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Development with a
position next in rank to the President of the College who shall assist
the President in the administration and supervision of the College and
who shall automatically assume the presidency of the College in an
acting capacity, with full powers and duties, in the absence of the
President or when the office of the president is vacant;
To appoint a college secretary, deans and heads of departments,
lecturers and employees of each College; fix their compensation,
hours of service and such other duties and conditions as it may deem
proper; grant them, in its discretion, leave of absence in accordance
with existing laws, rules and regulations; and remove them for cause
after an investigation and hearing shall have been conducted;
To approve the curricula and rules of discipline drawn up by each
College Council as hereinafter provided;
To fix the tuition fees required of students, as well as
matriculation fees, graduation fees, fees for laboratory courses and all
special fees, and to remit the same in special cases;
To provide fellowships for deserving faculty members and
scholarships for students of exceptional brilliance;
To promulgate rules for its own governance and to enact for the
government of each College such general ordinances and regulations, not
contrary to law, as are consistent with the purposes of each College as
defined in Section two of this Decree;
To receive in trust legacies, gifts and donations of real and
personal property of all kinds and to administer the same for the
benefit of each College or for aid to any student, in accordance with
the directions and instructions of the donor and, in default thereof, in
such manner as the Board of Trustees may in its discretion determine.
Such donations shall be exempt from all taxes and considered as
deductible items from the income tax of the donors;
To import, duty free, commodities for educational purposes as an
exception to existing laws; and
To authorize the College to undertake construction and/or repair
of its buildings and other facilities, any provision of law or executive
order to the contrary notwithstanding, provided that the funds for the
purpose shall come from its appropriation.
SEC. 7. A quorum of the Board of Trustees shall consist of a
majority of all its members holding office at the time a meeting is
called.
SEC. 8. On or before the fifteenth of June of each year
the Board of Trustees shall submit to the President of the Philippines a
detailed report setting forth the programs, conditions and needs of
each College.
SEC. 9. There shall be a College Council consisting of the
President of the College, the Vice-President of Academic Affairs and
Development, and all instructors and professors of each College. The
Council shall have the power to prescribe the curricula and the rules of
discipline, subject to approval of the Board of Trustees. It shall fix
the requirements for admission to the College as well as for graduation
and the receiving of a degree. The Council alone shall have the power to
recommend students or others to be the recipients of degrees or honors.
Through its president or committee, it shall have disciplinary control
over the students within the prescribed rules of discipline approved by
the Board of Trustees.
SEC. 10. The body of instructors and professors shall
constitute the faculty of each College, with the President of the
College as the presiding officer. In the appointment of professors or
instructors of each college, no religious test or party loyalty check
shall be applied.
SEC. 11. Professors, instructors, lecturers and the
Secretary of each college shall be exempt as such from any civil service
examination as a requisite for appointment and their salaries should be
exempted from the WAPCO, but the other personnel of the College shall
be subject to the Civil Service and WAPCO Laws, rules and regulations.
SEC. 12. The Treasurer of the Philippines shall be
ex-officio Treasurer of each College; and all accounts and expenses
shall be audited by the Chairman of the Commission on Audit or his duly
authorized representatives.
SEC. 13. The Board of Trustees shall appoint a Board
Secretary who shall be the Secretary of the Board of Trustees and who
shall keep the records of the Board.
SEC. 14. The President of each College, with the
cooperation of the superintendents within the service area of the
College, may use one or more of their schools as training or laboratory
schools for student teaching, research and innovative projects.
SEC. 15. In order not to interrupt the smooth functioning
of said normal schools and teachers college, the present faculty members
as well as all the other personnel thereof that are recommended by the
President of the College, shall be reappointed to their respective State
Colleges. Salaries of these personnel shall be adjusted at the
discretion of the Board of Trustees within the amounts available for
appropriation.
SEC. 16. The present school site of each College and all
other school properties are hereby transferred, ceded and conveyed to
each respective State College.
SEC. 17. All provisions of law inconsistent with this
Decree are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
SEC. 18. In order to carry out the purposes of this Decree
the sum of four million pesos is hereby authorized to be appropriated
from any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, in
addition to the funds already appropriated under existing laws or
decrees. Thereafter, the sum necessary for the operation of the herein
state colleges shall be included in the annual general appropriations
measure.
SEC. 19. This Decree shall take effect immediately except
insofar as the additional appropriation is concerned which shall become
available in January 1, 1977.
Done in the City of Manila, this 14th day of June, in the year
of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-six.
(Sgd.)
FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President
Republic of the Philippines
By the President:
(Sgd.)
JACOBO C. CLAVE
Presidential Executive Assistant
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
