[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1947, June 22, 1957 ]

AN ACT TO NATIONALIZE AND CONVERT THE ZAMBALES RURAL HIGH SCHOOL INTO A JUNIOR AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE OF THE CENTRAL LUZON AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE TYPE TO BE KNOWN AS WESTERN LUZON JUNIOR AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. The Zambales Rural High School, established in the Municipality of San Marcelino, Province of Zambales, shall hereafter be maintained by the National Government and is hereby converted into a junior agricultural college of the Central Luzon Agricultural College type, to be known as Western Luzon Junior Agricultural College, to be established under the direct supervision of the Director of Public Schools.

SEC. 2. The Western Luzon Junior Agricultural College shall offer, in addition to its present four-year secondary agricultural course, one-year course on farm mechanics, animal husbandry and other special courses, a two-year course leading to the title of associate in agricultural education.

SEC. 3. The aim of the Western Luzon Junior Agricultural College shall be to provide professional, technical, and special instruction for special purposes, promote research, extension service, and progressive leadership in the field of agricultural education.

SEC. 4. The head of this institution shall be known as the president of the Western Luzon Junior Agricultural College. He shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines upon the recommendation of the board of trustees as hereinafter provided. The powers and duties of the president of the college, in addition to those specifically provided for in this Act, shall be those usually pertaining to the office of the president of a college.

SEC. 5. The government of said college is hereby vested in a board of trustees of the Western Luzon Junior Agricultural College. The board of trustees shall be composed of the Secretary of Education, who shall be ex-officio chairman of the board, 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 Public Schools, the president of the college, and the president of the Western Luzon Junior Agricultural College alumni association.

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.

SEC. 6. The board of trustees shall have the following powers and duties, in addition to its general powers of administration:
  1. To receive and appropriate to the ends specified by law such sums of money as may be provided by law for the support of the college;
  2. To confer the title of Associate in Agricultural Education, to successful candidates for graduation;
  3. To appoint, on the recommendation of the president of the college, instructors, professors, lecturers, and other employees of the college; to fix their compensation, hours of service and such other duties and conditions as it may deem proper; to grant to them, in its discretion, leave of absence under such regulations as it may promulgate, any other provisions of la^w notwithstanding, and to remove them for cause after an investigation and hearing shall have been had;
  4. To approve the curricula and rules of discipline drawn up by the college council as hereinafter provided;
  5. To fix the tuition fees required of students, as well as matriculation fees, graduation fees, and for laboratory courses, and all special fees, and to remit the same in special cases;
  6. To provide fellowships for faculty members and scholarships to students showing special evidence of merit;
  7. To provide rules for its own government, and to enact for the government of the college such general ordinances and regulations, not contrary to law, as are consistent with the purposes of the college, as denned in section three of this Act;
SEC. 7. 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.

SEC. 8. On or before the fifteenth 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 college.

SEC. 9. There shall be a college council consisting of the president of the college as presiding officer and of all instructors and professors of the college as members. 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 college, as well as for graduation and the receiving of a title or a degree. The council alone shall have the power to recommend students or others to be recipients of titles or degrees. 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.

SEC. 10. The body of instructors and professors of the college shall constitute the faculty of the college. In the appointment of professors or instructors of the college, no religious test shall be applied nor shall religious opinions or affiliations of the faculty of the college be made a matter of examination or inquiry: Provided, however, That no instructor or professor in the college shall inculcate sectarian tenets in any of the teaching, nor attempt either directly or indirectly, under penalty of dismissal by the board of trustees, to influence students or attendance at the college for or against any particular church or religious sect.

SEC. 11. Professors and other regular instructors in the college shall be exempt as such from any civil service examinations or regulations as a requisite to appointment.

SEC. 12. There shall be a secretary of the college, appointed by the board of trustees. He shall be the secretary of such board and also of the college, and shall keep such records of the college as may be designated by the board.

SEC. 13. Heads of bureaus or offices of the National Government are hereby authorized to loan or transfer, upon request of the president of the college, such apparatus or supplies as may be needed by the college, and to detail employees for duty therein, when in the judgment of the head of the bureau or office such supplies or employees can be spared without serious detriment to the public service.

SEC. 14. The president of the college, with the cooperation of the Director of Public Schools, may use one or more public schools as training or laboratory schools of the college.

SEC. 15. In order not to interrupt the smooth functioning of the four-year secondary agricultural curriculum, the one-year farm mechanics curriculum, and other special curricula of the Zambales Rural High School, the faculty of the school, consisting of the principal, assistant principal and teachers, as well as the other personnel, shall be absorbed by the new college. Salaries of these personnel shall be adjusted at the discretion of the board of trustees within the amount available for appropriation.

SEC. 16. For the purpose of giving effect to this Act all the unexpended balances of appropriation under the control of the former Zambales Rural High School are hereby made available for the operation of the Western Luzon Junior Agricultural College until June 30, 1958. Thereafter, the necessary funds shall be provided in the annual General Appropriation Act.

SEC. 17. The sum of one hundred thousand pesos is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, which shall be expended for the fiscal year 1957-1958 by the Director of Public Schools with the approval of the Secretary of Education, for the establishment, operation and maintenance of the said Western Luzon Junior Agricultural College.

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

Approved, June 22, 1957.