REPUBLIC ACT No. 3801
An Act Providing for the Establishment of an Educational and Vocational Training Institute for the Custodial Care of Children of Adversity at Arakan Valley in the Municipality of Matalam, Province of Cotabato, to be Known as the "Children’s Educational Foundation Village," and Authorizing the Appropriation of Funds Therefor
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:
Section 1. There is hereby established an educational and vocational training and industrial apprenticeship institute for the custodial care and vocational education of children of adversity at Doroloman and Melambig sitios of Arakan Valley in the Municipality of Matalam, Province of Cotabato, to be known as the "Children’s Educational Foundation Village."
"Children" as used in this Act shall mean and include orphans, homeless, neglected children, indigent children from broken homes, and children from poverty-stricken families due to sickness, calamities and other misfortunes, ranging from seven years to fifteen years old.
Section 2. The Children’s Educational Foundation Village hereinafter known as the "Foundation Village" shall entrust to foster parents, in cooperation with educators, psychologists, sociologists and other professionally trained personnel purposely employed by the Foundation Village, the care, custody, correction, education and vocational training as well as physical, moral and spiritual uplift of orphans, homeless, neglected children, indigent children from broken homes, children of poverty-stricken families due to sickness, public calamities and other misfortunes. It shall serve as a laboratory and a training center for child welfare development studies and offer opportunities for manual labor as assistance to deserving self-supporting students.
Section 3. The Children’s Educational Foundation Village shall offer not only elementary, secondary general and secondary vocational course but also two years vocational, industrial arts and trades, home technology, engineering and agriculture, all leading to associate degrees on the college level as prescribed and approved by the Board of Trustees.
Section 4. The head of the Foundation Village shall be the Executive Director to be appointed by the President of the Philippines upon the recommendation of the Board of Trustees of the Children’s Educational Foundation Village. The powers and duties of the Executive Director, in addition to those specifically provided for in this Act, shall be those pertaining to the office of the President of the College. He shall coordinate, plan implement the policy of the Board of Trustees, and shall be assisted by two assistant directors appointed by the Board of Trustees upon the recommendation of the Board of Consultants.1awp++i1 The First Assistant Director shall have the immediate supervision of the instructional and welfare program of the Foundation Village. In addition, he shall act as Director in the absence of the latter. The Second Assistant Director shall have direct supervision over the construction and development of the one thousand hectares of land of the foundation Village and other duties prescribed by the Board of Trustees.
Section 5. The government of said Foundation Village shall be vested in, and exercised by, a Board of Trustees composed of the Secretary of Education as presiding chairman, the Social Welfare Administrator as vice-chairman, the Chairman of the Committee on Education of the House of Representatives, the Chairman of the Committee on Education of the Senate, the Director of the Bureau of Public Schools, the Director of the National Coordinating Center for the Study and Development of Filipino Children, and the Executive Director of the Children’s Educational Foundation Village. In the absence of some of the members of the Board, the respective alternates shall attend the meeting to constitute a quorum: namely, the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, the Vice-Chairman of the House Committee on Education, the Assistant Director of the National Coordinating Center for the study and Development of Filipino Children, the Assistant Director of the Bureau of Public Schools and the First Assistant Director of the Foundation Village.
Members of the Board 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 of the Board.
Section 6. 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 Executive Director of secretary thereof.
Section 7. The Board of Trustees shall have the following powers and duties in addition to its general powers as set forth in Section thirteen of Act Numbered Fourteen hundred and fifty-nine, as amended:
(a) to receive and appropriate to the ends specified by law such sums as may be provided by law for the support of the Foundation Village;
(b) to confer certificates and awards of merit to those children and youths who graduate or show exceptional scholarship, leadership, ability, manual skills, or good moral conduct;
(c) to appoint upon the recommendation of the Executive Director of the Foundation Village, teachers, social workers, foster parents, and other employees of the Foundation Village; to fix their compensation, hours of service, and such other duties and conditions as it may deem proper, to grant at its discretion leaves of absence and to remove them for cause after an investigation and hearing shall have been had;
(d) to approve the curricula and rules of discipline drawn up by the Foundation Village Council as hereinafter provided;
(e) to fix rules and policies in regard to foster home care, the criteria for children’s admission to the Foundation Village and its functions and maintenance in addition to those specifically provided in this Act;
(f) to provide fellowships for faculty members and scholarships for children and youths showing special evidence of merit or talents;
(g) to provide rules for the governing of the Foundation Village under such general ordinances and regulations not contrary to law as are necessary in training the children for leadership and good citizenship;
(h) 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 the Foundation Village or for aid to any of the children, 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.
Section 8. On or before the fifteenth day of the second month after the opening of regular classes 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 Foundation Village.
Section 9. There shall be a Foundation Village Council consisting of the Village Executive Director, two assistant directors, all teachers and foster parents, and other employees of the Foundation Village to be determined by the Board. 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 Foundation Village as well as for graduation and the receiving of certificates, diplomas, or awards of merit. Through the Director of the Foundation Village the Council shall have disciplinary powers over the children and member council students within the limits prescribed by the Board of Trustees.
Section 10. The body of teachers, foster parents, and other technical employees shall constitute the faculty and staff of said Foundation Village with the Executive Director as the presiding officer. Its functions shall be to promote professional growth among themselves, formulate rules and policies and a code of ethics or conduct for themselves and to act as a body to judge disciplinary action against its member within the limits prescribed by the Board of Trustees. In the appointment of teachers and other employees of the Foundation Village, unless specified otherwise, the usual standards set up by the Board of Trustees in accordance with existing policies for similar functions will be followed excepting therefrom civil service eligibility requirements and that religious opinions or affiliation of the employees of the Foundation Village must not be made the subject of examination or inquiry, except that they are educationally qualified and proficient in the type of work required of them.
Section 11. There is hereby created a Board of Consultants whose membership shall be selected by the Board of Trustees from the heads of institutions dedicated to the custodial care, protection, education, training of youths and children, and such other persons whose technical know-how would be of valuable assistance in carrying out the objectives and purposes of this Act. Attendance of the members of the Board of Consultants at the Board of Trustees meetings shall be made by invitation of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees to a member or members whose technical advice shall be deemed beneficial to the welfare of the Foundation Village.
Section 12. Foster parents shall possess a high sense of integrity and proven love for children, have morally upright and wholesome personality, and be physically and mentally healthy. There shall be five types of foster parents: namely, (1) childless couples who have finished a college education; (2) newly married couples who are educationally qualified and technically trained to handle some phases of work in the Foundation Village; (3) elderly couples who have retired from the government jobs or private firms but are still capable of being employed as foster parents and provided that they have no dependents; (4) unmarried individuals who are professionally or technically capable of becoming foster mothers or foster fathers and (5) widows or widowers who are educationally qualified with no dependents.1âшphi1 The Executive Director of the Foundation Village shall recommend foster parents to the Board of Trustees for approval, who shall receive such salaries or compensation as the Board of Trustees may determine.
Section 13. Each foster parent shall live in a government cottage with fifteen or twenty children under his or her care grouped according to age, sex, interest or convenience, and shall be provided with enough space for gardening and other income-producing projects. However, children under ten years of age shall not be divided into groups but shall be allowed to mingle with one another to have a normal home life. The children shall be enrolled in classes according to their aptitudes and abilities and in the vocational courses they are best inclined. They should be given job responsibility where nominal payment for service rendered shall be paid them to prepare them for civic efficiency and to enable them to grow into self-respecting citizens of the Republic of the Philippines.
Section 14. The foster parents shall be responsible for the supply and preservation of all house equipment, clothing and general supplies needed by the children under their care and shall make a monthly report to the Executive Director of the Foundation Village regarding the expense for each child. They shall coordinate with the Village Child Guidance Counsellor and the Village Doctor and Dentist and other personnel to promote the wholesome personality of the children. They shall see to it that the children are motivated to have individual or shared projects and shall act with loving care as real parents to the children and provide them wholesome family life.
Section 15. The age limit of these children admitted to the Foundation Village shall be from seven years to fifteen years old. At least two years of college vocational training shall be given to those eighteen years old before they are released from the Foundation Village, through its Job Placement Office and to enable them fully for better qualification. Should the child wish to leave the Foundation Village before reaching the age of eighteen years, he may do so with the approval of the Board of Trustees upon the recommendation of the Foundation Village Director: Provided, That the parents, guardians, and relatives execute an affidavit of support for his care and education: Provided, further, That follow-up supervision of the Executive Director of the Foundation Village for the custodial care and education of the child is made periodically until the child reaches the age of majority: Provided, finally, That should the parents, guardians, and relatives fail to comply with the requirements set forth, the Foundation Village has in its discretion to take back the child in its custodial care. To enable the Foundation Village to serve as many deserving indigent children and youths as possible, the Job Placement Office of the Foundation Village shall encourage adoptions of rehabilitated children by families that are morally and financially qualified to love and care children as if said children were their own children, subject to the supervision of the Foundation Village until said children reach majority age.
Section 16. There shall be a secretary of the Foundation Village recommended by the Executive Director and appointed by the Board of Trustees. He shall be the secretary of the Board of Trustees during its meetings and shall keep such records of the Foundation Village as may be designated by the Board.
Section 17. The Treasurer of the Philippines shall be ex officio treasurer of the Foundation Village and all accounts and expenses thereof shall be audited by the Auditor General or his duly authorized representative. All disbursements shall be made in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by the General Auditing Office.
Section 18. Heads of bureaus or offices of the National Government are hereby authorized to loan or transfer upon request of the Executive Director of the Foundation Village, such apparatus or supplies as may be needed by the Foundation Village, and to detail employees for duty therein if, in the judgment of the head of the bureau or office, such supplies or employees can be spared without serious detriment to public service. Employees so detailed shall perform such duties as may be required by the Executive Director of the Foundation Village, and the time so employed shall be considered as part of their regular official service.
Section 19. The superintendent of city schools and provincial division superintendents are hereby empowered through their district supervisors and teaches to help recruit children of adversity who are either orphans, abandoned or neglected children from destitute families, or children from broken homes or from families stricken by poverty, calamities, sickness or other misfortunes. The barrio lieutenant shall refer an orphan child to the barrio teacher for the latter to help file an application for custodial care and education of said child to the Executive Director of the Foundation Village who shall approve the application papers after having been screened and recommended jointly by the district supervisor, division superintendent, and the deputized Social Welfare Administration official of the province. Youths and children from all over the Islands including those from the Manila Boys’ Town, the Welfareville, the Children’s Garden, the Children Catholic Charities, the Youth Conservation Corps, or other public or private agencies may be admitted to the Foundation Village by special arrangement with the approval of the Board of Trustees: Provided, That the Executive Director of the Foundation Village accept the placement: And Provided, further, That their living, education and travel expenses to the Foundation Village shall be paid by the agencies concerned.
Section 20. With special arrangement made by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the air force, army and the navy and other means of public transportation shall give free pass to those indigent children admitted to the Foundation Village including their chaperons.
Section 21. Out of the five thousand ninety-one hectares at Arakan Valley, Municipality of Matalam, Province of Cotabato, reserved for the Mindanao Institute of Technology under Proclamation Order No. 428, one thousand hectares shall be segregated for the purpose of the Children’s Educational Foundation Village, described as follows:
"Beginning at a point marked "Forest Station 135" at the junction of Culaman River and Tinanan River thence following the Tinanan River in a northeasterly direction for 5 kilometers, and at this point in straight horizontal line 2 kilometers towards the Arakan River and likewise from "Forest Station 135" at the junction of Culaman River and Tinanan River, to a point in straight line 2 kilometers away towards Maklañgot, beginning at the end of Kilometer 2 in parallel lines of the Tinanan River in northeasterly direction 5 kilometers away until it meets the point of Kilometer 2 towards Arakan River."
Section 22. The sum of five hundred thousand pesos is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the establishment, operation and maintenance of the said Foundation Village during the fiscal year nineteen hundred sixty-four. Thereafter, such sum as may be needed for its operation and maintenance shall be included in the annual General Appropriation Acts.
Section 23. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved: June 22, 1963.
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