REPUBLIC ACT No. 1434
An Act to Establish the Samar Institute of Technology
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:
Section 1. There is hereby established in the Municipality of Catarman, Province of Samar, a vocational college to be known as the Samar Institute of Technology which shall offer not only elementary, secondary general, secondary vocational and normal courses of instruction but also collegiate agricultural and industrial courses leading to bachelors’ degrees. It shall also offer opportunities for manual labor as assistance to self-supporting students.
Section 2. The head of the Institute shall be known as the President of the Samar Institute of Technology. He shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines upon the recommendation of the Board of Trustees of the Institute. The powers and duties of the President of the Institute, in addition to those specifically provided in this Act, shall be those usually pertaining to the office of the president of a college or university.
Section 3. The governing body of the Institute shall be the Board of Trustees of the Samar Institute of Technology. The said Board shall be composed of the Secretary of Education, who shall be the chairman, the Chairman of the Committee on Education of the House of Representatives, the Director of Public Schools, the President of the Institute, and a prominent resident of Samar to be designated by the President of the Philippines.
The trustees of the Institute shall serve without compensation other than actual and necessary expenses incurred either in attendance upon meetings of the Board or upon other official business authorized by resolution thereof.
Section 4. The Board of Trustees shall have the following powers and duties, in addition to its general powers of administration:
(a) To receive and appropriate such sums as may be provided by law for the support of the Institute;
(b) To confer certificates, diplomas or degrees upon successful candidates for graduation;
(c) To appoint, on the recommendation of the President of the Institute, teachers, principals, supervisors, instructors, professors, lecturers, and other employees of the Institute; to fix their compensation, hours of service and such other duties and conditions as it may deem proper; to grant them, in its discretion, leave of absence under such regulations as it may promulgate, any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding; and to remove them for cause after due investigation and hearing;
(d) To approve the curricula and rules of discipline drawn up by the Institute Council as hereinafter provided;
(e) To fix the tuition fees required 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;
(f) To provide fellowships for faculty members and scholarships to students showing evidence of special merit;
(g) To provide rules for its own government, and to promulgate for the government of the Institute such general ordinances and regulations, not contrary to law, as are necessary;
(h) To receive in trust legacies, gifts and donations of real and personal property of all kinds and to administer the same and other properties of the Institute for the benefit of the Institute 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;
(i) To mortgage, lease, pledge, or otherwise encumber the whole or any portion of the real or personal properties of the Institute.
Section 5. A quorum of the Board of Trustees shall consist of a majority of all the members. All process against the Board of Trustees shall be served on the President or secretary thereof.
Section 6. On or before the fifteenth day of June 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 Institute.
Section 7. There shall be an Institute Council consisting of the President of the Institute and of all instructors and professors of the Institute. The Council shall have the power to prescribe the curricula and rules of discipline, subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees. It shall fix the requirements for admission to the Institute, 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 recipients of degrees.1awp++i1 Through its President or committee, it shall have disciplinary power over the students within the limits prescribed by the rules of discipline approved by the Board of Trustees.
Section 8. The Body of teachers, principals, supervisors, instructors and professors of the Institute shall constitute the faculty of the Institute, with the President of the Institute as the presiding officer. In the appointment of professors or instructors of the Institute, no religious test shall be applied, nor shall the religious opinions or affiliations of the faculty of the Institute be made a matter of examination or inquiry: Provided, However, That no instructor or professor in the Institute shall inculcate sectarian tenets in any of the teachings, nor attempt either directly or indirectly, under penalty of dismissal by the Board of Trustees, to influence students or attempts at the Institute for or against any particular church or religious sect.
Section 9. Professors and other regular instructors in the Institute shall be exempt as such from any civil service examinations or regulations as a requisite for appointment.
Section 10. There shall be a secretary of the Institute, to be appointed by the Board of Trustees. He shall be the secretary of such Board and also of the Institute, and shall keep such records of the Institute as may be designated by the Board.
Section 11. The Catarman Agricultural High School is abolished and all its personnel, unexpended appropriations, properties and other assets are transferred to the Samar Institute of Technology.
Section 12. The sum of fifty thousand pesos is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to carry out the purposes of this Act.
Section 13. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved: June 14, 1956.
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