Conversion of Nueva Ecija School of Arts and Trades into Central Luzon Polytechnic College

June 18, 1964

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 3998

AN ACT CONVERTING THE NUEVA ECIJA SCHOOL OF ARTS AND TRADES INTO CENTRAL LUZON POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE, GIVING IT CORPORATE EXISTENCE, PROVIDING FOR A BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND DEFINING ITS POWERS, DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES, PROVIDING FOR HIGHER VOCATIONAL, PROFESSIONAL, AND TECHNOLOGICAL INSTRUCTION AND TRAINING IN TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

SECTION 1. The Nueva Ecija School of Arts and Trades, located in the City of Cabanatuan, is hereby converted into Central Luzon Polytechnic College which shall offer not only four-year secondary trade, three-year technical courses, opportunity courses, and four-year courses leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Science in Industrial Education, Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Architecture and other allied courses which the Board of Trustees, as hereinafter provided, may decide and deem desirable for the needs of the region and the country but shall also offer graduate courses along the fields of its specialization. cdt

SECTION 2. The purpose of the college shall be to provide higher vocational, professional, and technological instruction and training in trade and industrial education and technology, and to promote research, advance studies, and provide leadership in the field of trade, industrial, and technological education.

SECTION 3. The head of the college shall be known as the President of Central Luzon Polytechnic College. He shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines upon recommendation of the Board of Trustees. The powers and duties of the president of the college, in addition to those provided in this Act, shall be those that usually pertain to the office of the president of a college.

SECTION 4. The policy-making power in Central Luzon Polytechnic College is hereby vested in a Board of Trustees, to be composed of the Secretary of Education, as ex-officio chairman; the Chairman of the Committee on Education of the Senate; the Chairman of the Committee on Education of the House of Representatives; the Director of Vocational Education; the Director of Public Schools; the President of the College; and the President of the College Alumni Association (formerly President of the Nueva Ecija School of Arts and Trades Alumni Association). In the absence or inability of the Secretary of Education, the Undersecretary shall act as ex-officio chairman of the Board. In the absence or inability of both the Secretary and Undersecretary of Education, or when these positions are vacant, the other members of the Board may elect from among themselves a temporary chairman.

The members of the board shall serve without compensation, but shall be entitled to reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses, not exceeding forty pesos per day in any case, incurred either in attendance upon meetings of the board or upon other official business authorized by resolution of the board.

SECTION 5. The Board of Trustees shall exercise for Central Luzon Polytechnic College all the powers of a corporation as provided in Section thirteen of Act Numbered Fourteen hundred fifty-nine, as amended. It shall also have the following powers and duties in addition to its general policy-making function:

(a) To receive and allocate such sums as may be provided by law for the college;

(b) To confer titles, bachelor's and master's degrees to successful candidates for graduation;

(c) To authorize the President of the College to award proficiency certificates to students who have finished the first two years of the three-year curriculum in technical education and to those who have finished the opportunity courses which are intended for adults or the old leavers;

(d) To appoint, upon recommendation of the President of the College, a dean of instruction, a registrar, heads of departments, professors, instructors, lecturers, and other employees of the college, except emergency laborers, student assistants or student helpers who can be appointed by the President of the College subject to confirmation by the board; to fix their compensations, duties, hours of service, and such other conditions as it may deem fair and proper; to grant, in its discretion, leaves of absence under such regulations as it may promulgate; and to remove faculty members or employees for cause after fair hearing;

(e) To approve the curricula and rules of discipline drawn by the college council, as hereinafter provided; cd

(f) To fix the tuition fees of students, as well as matriculation fees, graduation fees and fees for laboratory courses, and all special fees, and to remit the same in special cases;

(g) To provide fellowships and other types of travel and scholarship grants and exchanges for members of the faculty, and scholarships to students in exceptionally meritorious cases;

(h) To prescribe rules for its own government, and to enact for the government of the college such rules and regulations, not contrary to law, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes and functions of the college; and

(i) To receive in trust legacies, gifts, and donations of real and personal property of all kinds and to administer same for the benefit of the college and in accordance with the instructions and conditions, if any, of the donor.

SECTION 6. A quorum of the Board of Trustees shall consist of a majority of all members. All processes against the board shall be served on the chairman or secretary thereof.

SECTION 7. On or before the fifteenth day of the second month following the opening of regular classes of each year, the Board of Trustees shall file with the President of the Philippines a detailed report setting forth the progress, conditions and needs of the college.

SECTION 8. There shall be a college council consisting of the President of the College as presiding officer, the Dean of Instruction as vice-presiding officer, the heads of departments, and all the professors and instructors of the college. The council shall have the responsibility of drafting and formulating the college curricula and rules of discipline, subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees. It shall fix the requirements for admission to the college, for graduation, and for the conferment of titles and degrees, subject to the same approval. It shall recommend successful candidates for graduation to be recipients of the proper titles and degrees, and propose students for special citations or awards in meritorious cases. Through an impartial committee as it may appoint and authorize within itself, it shall exercise disciplinary power over the students within the limits prescribed by the rules of discipline approved by the Board of Trustees.

SECTION 9. The body of professors and instructors of the college shall constitute the faculty of the college. In the appointments of professors and instructors, no religious or political test shall be applied, nor shall the religious and political opinions or affiliations of any faculty member be made a matter of examination or inquiry: Provided, That no instructor or professor of the college shall, under penalty of dismissal by the Board of Trustees, propagate sectarian or partisan political tenets in his teachings, or attempt, directly or indirectly, to influence students or attendants at the college in favor of or against any particular church, religious sect, or political party.

SECTION 10. Professors and other regular instructors in the college shall be exempted as such from any civil service examinations or regulations as a requisite to appointment. cdt

SECTION 11. There shall be a secretary of the college who shall also be the secretary of the Board of Trustees. He shall keep such records of the college as the board or the President of the College may direct.

SECTION 12. The President of the College, with the cooperation of the division superintendent or superintendent of vocational schools concerned, may use one or more elementary or secondary schools as training or laboratory schools for students teachers of the college.

SECTION 13. Heads of bureaus and offices of the National Government are hereby authorized to loan or transfer, upon request of the President of the College, such apparatus, equipment or supplies as may be needed by the college, and to detail for duty therein such employees as the President of the College may request when, in the judgment of the head of the bureau or office concerned, such apparatus, equipment supplies or employees can be so loaned or transferred or detailed without serious detriment to the public service. Employees so detailed shall perform such duties as are required under such assignment, and the time they employ under such assignment shall be counted as part of their regular service.

SECTION 14. In order not to interrupt the present functioning of the Nueva Ecija School of Arts and Trades, the faculty and employees thereof shall be absorbed into the college. The salaries of these personnel shall be adjusted at the discretion of the Board of Trustees within the amount hereby additionally appropriated for the college.

SECTION 15. The Treasurer of the Philippines shall be ex-officio treasurer of the college, and all accounts and expenses thereof shall be audited by the Auditor General or by his duly authorized representative.

SECTION 16. All the personnel, movable and immovable properties, records, rights, obligations, and appropriations of the Nueva Ecija School of Arts and Trades are hereby transferred to Central Luzon Polytechnic College.

SECTION 17. The sum of five hundred fifty thousand pesos, in addition to the current appropriation for the Nueva Ecija School of Arts and Trades, is hereby authorized to be appropriated out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the conversion of said school into a college and its operation and maintenance starting the fiscal year nineteen hundred sixty-five. Said sum and appropriation as well as such other sums as may hereafter be necessary for the college shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

 

SECTION 18. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 18, 1964

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 60, No. 51, p. 8439 on December 21, 1964