MALACAŅANG
M a n i l a
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE No. 798 September 11, 1975
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 non- productive 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:
1. Poverty
2. Illness
3. Grave physical or mental defect
4. Failure to obtain accomodation in any public school due to over-enrolment in such school
5. Other analogous reasons
Section 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.
Section 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 power 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 or a truant within the purview of Section 1 or any rehabilitation center or reformatory as shall be determined by the same court.
Section 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 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 had thereof.
In case of 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.
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