Design and Implementation of a Program to Ensure Continuing Supply of Elementary School Textbooks

December 10, 1985

LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 1489

DIRECTING THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A PROGRAM TO ENSURE A CONTINUING SUPPLY OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS

WHEREAS, the textbook and instructional materials program is presently supported by a World Bank loan (PRODED), which it about to expire;

WHEREAS, the instructional Materials Corporation (IMC) was established to ensure that a mechanism exists to see to the continuation of the textbook program even after the termination of the ongoing World Bank funded project;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by Law, do hereby Order and Instruct:

1. To enable the IMC to discharge its assigned role of ensuring the continuing production of quality textbooks and teaching materials for the public school system, all textbooks, teaching aids, school forms, workbooks and other teaching materials purchased out of the budgetary appropriations of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, the budgets of local government units, and the Special Education Fund shall be directly purchased from the IMC;

2. All appropriations of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports and of the Special Education Funds of local government units, intended for the development, production, distribution and purchase of textbooks, teaching aids, schools forms, workbooks and other teaching materials of public elementary and secondary schools shall be utilized and/or spent on material published by the IMC or by private publishers if the former has no available works for the purpose;

3. The Board of Directors of the IMC shall ensure the reasonability of the prices of books and materials sold to the national or local government units. It may, however, charge as part of costs a share of the development and research costs of textbook and teaching materials. The Chairman of the Commission on Audit shall conduct and annual review of the costs and prices of IMC material and shall report to the President on its findings, including the efficiency of its operations and the reasonability of its profits;

4. The IMC shall not venture into printing, except for typesetting, composition and layouting. Its printing requirements shall be fulfilled by private and public printers in accordance the rules of public bidding and applicable accounting and auditing rules;

5. To enable the completion of books and materials on time for the deadlines imposed by school opening, contracts entered into by the IMC for the purchase of printing paper and raw material or supplies needed for book production or of printing services shall be finalized upon approval of the Cabinet Executive Committee as an exemption from the provisions of LOI No. 620: PROVIDED: That such contracts are approved by the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports on the basis of public bidding, following accounting and auditing rules and regulations, and/or World Bank procurement rules where World Bank funds are utilized;

6. The Ministers of Education, Culture and Sports and of the Budget shall see to it that the national budget provides for the need for the development, printing and procurement of textbooks and instructional materials for elementary and secondary schools, making up for the loss of World Bank (PRODED) money when the existing loans terminate;

7. The IMC may secure the services of expert consultants and other technical personnel on the same basis as that authorized for the Educational Projects Implementing Task Force (EDPITAF) by Presidential Decree No. 1235 on contractual, part-time, or full-time basis at such rates as may be authorized by its Board of Directors;

8. The Minister of Local Government, the Commission on Audit and the Office of the Budget and Management shall assist in seeing to the strict compliance of the provisions of this Letter within their respective areas of jurisdiction and insuring that the IMC is given all possible budgetary support and personnel complement to carry out its assigned functions; cd

9. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports and the IMC, in coordination with the other Ministries and agencies concerned, shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the implementation of this Letter.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 10th day of December, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five.