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

SECTION 1. The Echague Agricultural and Forestry School in the Municipality of Echague, Province of Isabela is hereby converted into a college, to be known as Isabela State College of Agriculture.

SEC. 2. The aim of said college shall be to provide professional, technical and special instruction for special purposes and to promote research, extension services and progressive leadership in agriculture, agricultural education, home technology and other educational fields.

SEC. 3. The head of this institution shall be known as the President of Isabela State College of Agriculture. 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 especially provided for in this act, shall be those usually pertaining to the office of the president of a college.

SEC. 4. The government of said college is hereby vested in the Board of Trustees of Isabela State College of Agriculture. The Board of Trustees shall to composed of the President of the college, who shall be the chairman of the Board, the president of the student government of the college, the president of the faculty club of the college, the president of the alumni association, and three prominent residents of Isabela, who shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments.

Members of the Board shall serve without compensation other than actual and necessary expenses incurred either in attendance at meetings of the Board or upon official business authorized by resolution of the Board.

SEC. 5. 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 Agriculture Education, the degrees of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, the Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Home Technology, and such other titles and degrees corresponding to the courses which the Board of Trustees may offer: Provided, that it may confer the usual honorary degrees upon any person in recognition of learning, statemanship or eminence in literature, science, art agriculture or public service;
   
3. To appoint instructors, professors, lecturers and other employees of the college; to fix their compensation, hours of service and such other duties and conditions as may be deemed proper; to grant to them in its discretion, leaves of absence under such regulations as it may promulgate, any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, and to remove them for cause after an investigation and hearing shall have been conducted;
   
4. To approve the curricula and rules of discipline drawn up by the College Council as herein after provided;
   
5. 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;
   
6. To provide fellowship for faculty members and scholarships to students showing special evidence of merit;
   
7. To prescribe 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 purposes of the college, as defined in Section two of this Act; and
   
8. To receive in trust legacies, gifts, donations of real and personal properties of all kinds and to administer the same for the benefit of the college 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.
   

SEC. 6. A quorum of the Board of Trustees shall consist of a majority of all the members holding office at the time the meeting of the Board is called. All processes against the Board of Trustees shall be served on the president or secretary there of.

SEC. 7. 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, condition and need of the college.

SEC. 8. 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 of the college, 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 award of a title or a degree. The Council shall also have the power to recommend students or other persons to be awarded titles or degrees. Through the president, it shall have disciplinary power over the students within the limits prescribed by the rules of discipline approved by the Board of Trustees.

SEC. 9. The body of instructors and professors of the college shall constitute the faculty of the college. In the appointment of instructors or professors of the college, no religious test shall be applied nor shall religious opinions or affiliations of any of the faculty members 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 his teachings, nor shall he attempt either directly or indirectly, under penalty of dismissal, to influence students for or against any particular church or religious sect.

SEC. 10. No civil service eligibility shall be required for appointment to the college as a professor or regular instructor.

SEC. 11. There shall be a secretary of a college, appointed by the Board, who shall keep such records the college as may be designated by the Board.

SEC. 12. The Treasurer of the Philippines shall be ex-officio treasurer of the college, and all accounts expenses thereof shall be audited by the Auditor General or his duly authorized representatives, and all disbursements shall be made in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by him.

SEC. 13. The president of the college, with the approval of the Director of Public Schools, may use one or more public schools as training or laboratories schools of the college

SEC. 14. In order not to interrupt the smooth functioning of the four-year secondary agricultural curriculum of the Echague Agricultural and Forestry School, the faculty of the school, consisting of the principals and teachers , as well as the other personnel, shall be absorbed by the new college. Salaries of the personnel shall be adjusted at the discretion of the Board of Trustees within the amount available for appropriation, and all properties, assets and equipments of the school, as well as all its liabilities, shall be absorbed by the college.

SEC. 15. For the purpose of giving effect to this Act, all the unexpended balance of appropriation under the, control of the former Echague Agricultural and Forestry School are hereby made available for the operation of the Isabela State College of Agriculture until June, nineteen hundred seventy-two. Thereafter, such sums as may be necessary for its operation and maintenance shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

SEC. 16. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved, July 1, 1972.