TO:	The Minister of Education, Culture and Sports The Chairman, Textbooks Board

WHEREAS, it is the policy of government to assist in the professional development of schoolteachers;

WHEREAS, the improvement of textbooks and other instructional material is an ongoing activity of the education Ministry, intended to keep course content pertinent to the need of the times;

WHEREAS, the participation of schoolteachers in the textbook program will help improve the quality of textbooks, enhance professional development through book preparation oriented research and add to the income of teachers;

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 the initiation of the Sariling Sikap Textbook Program ("Sumulat ng Aklat sa Sariling Sikap") :

The Minister of Education, Culture and Sports shall adopt such measures as may be necessary to encourage and assist talented teachers in both public and private schools including teachers in state universities and colleges, in the preparation of manuscripts for consideration and possible use as textbook in the schools system, along the following lines:

1. Calls for the preparation of textbooks for use in elementary and secondary schools shall be issued from time to time, encouraging the submission of manuscripts by talented schoolteachers;
   
   
2. Requirements regarding the form of the entries shall be kept to the minimum in order to encourage as many teachers as possible to submit manuscripts for evaluation at minimum cost to authors.  To achieve this aim, manuscripts submitted by schoolteachers shall be evaluated on the basis of substantive content and not on the basis of physical appearance.  They need not be submitted printed or blueprint form but may be submitted in type-script or even longhand and only with descriptions illustrative material.  If necessary, the Textbook Board Secretariat shall retype the manuscripts in such standard format as may be decided upon by the Board for purpose of assuring comparability in the evaluation of manuscripts received;
   
   
3. The Textbook Board shall establish the necessary selection mechanism with the approval of the Minister and shall award prizes or the best manuscripts.
   
   
4. Prizes shall be awarded, as may be approved by the Minister on recommendation of the Textbook Board These may include national and regional prizes for winners acceptance awards for manuscripts meeting minimum standards and support awards to the Division Superintendent, the District Supervisor and the Principal of the School of a prizewinning schoolteacher.
   
   
5. Entries shall be property of government, which shall reserve the right to print copies for the public school system of all or part of prizewinning manuscripts, both individually or in combination with each other in order to combine their best features.  In cases where manuscripts are combined, the combined work shall be printed under joint authorship;
   
   
6. The Textbook Board Secretariat shall prepare the book design and illustrations for the winning manuscripts or for the composite book combining the best features of prizewinning manuscripts;
   
   
7. Copies for use in the public schools shall be printed by prequalified printers tendering the lowest bid for such work.  The Textbook Board may authorize reputable private publishers or printers to print the approved textbooks for use in the private schools or for sale to individual buyers, in return for payment of a royalty which shall be shared between the government and the author (in addition to the prizes authorized under in this Letter).  This privilege shall be given to private companies making the most attractive bids;
   
   
8. Budgetary allocations authorized for the procurement of textbooks may be used for prizes given pursuant to this Letter;
   
   
9. The participation of private publishers non-teachers in textbook contests shall continue to be allowed notwithstanding the initiation of the "Sumulat ng sa Sariling Sikap" program;
   
   
10. Rules and regulations for the implementation of this Letter shall be issued by the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports on recommendation of the Textbook Board.

Done, in the City of Manila, this 20th day of February, nineteen hundred and eighty four.