Conversion of CASIFMAS Ragay to TESDA Institute

Conversion and TESDA supervision

CASIFMAS – Ragay Campus in the Municipality of Ragay, Province of Camarines Sur is separated from the CASIFMAS Main Campus in Pasacao, Camarines Sur (Section 2).
The separated campus is converted into a polytechnic institute known as the Ragay Polytechnic Skills Institute (RPSI) (Section 2).
TESDA exercises direct administration and supervision over the Institute (Section 2).
The conversion becomes operational only after TESDA issues the required compliance determination and certificate of compliance (Section 5).

Policy, mandate, and program direction

The Act requires conversion to meet higher and technical skills education priorities by aligning with (a) the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF), (b) ASEAN economic integration, and (c) changing industry and labor market demands (Section 3).
The Institute must implement a major curricular program shift toward development of a world-class Filipino workforce with practical and technical skills of global competence (Section 3).
The Institute must primarily offer practical specialty courses in aquaculture, fisheries, and related aqua-trade industry, and higher-level competency qualifications in technical industrial education and trade technology (Section 3).
The Institute must upgrade curricular standards as a tertiary TESDA-polytechnic institution offering specialized technical skills and competency-compliant practical knowledge application (Section 3).
The Institute must aim to meet Level V of the PQF, which is the Diploma Level in technical-vocational education, as a long-term goal (Section 3).
The Institute must provide technical-vocational education and training focused on employable skills, gainful employment, practical livelihood, and entrepreneurship, while primarily providing tertiary undergraduate technical-vocational education (Section 3).

Target beneficiaries and local development role

The Institute must help students and out-of-school youth and residents from low-income families, including persons with disabilities, in the Municipality of Ragay and adjacent municipalities in Camariens Sur (Section 3).
The Institute must develop these beneficiaries into a productive, self-reliant, and globally competitive middle to high-level skilled labor force to hasten social and economic development in Camarines Sur (Section 3).
The Institute must meet manpower placement needs of both local and international labor markets (Section 3).
In designing training programs, the Institute must consider competency assessment of the socioeconomic profile, employment conditions and opportunities, business climate, market and industry potentials, resources available, presence of support structures, including literacy level and skills readiness, and overall development needs of the host and adjacent communities within the Institute’s operational radius (Section 3).
The Institute must consider relevant skills and trade competencies, craftsmanship training, and entrepreneurship activities to deliver effective employment and development interventions needed to make Ragay and Camarines Sur localities human resources capital and economic productivity hubs (Section 3).
The Institute must serve as a TESDA-accredited Assessment Center for acquired competencies in technical-vocational skills for the entire Province of Camarines Sur (Section 3).
Admission and priority availment, including scholarships and grants-in-aid, must be given to the most disadvantaged citizens of the Municipality of Ragay and the most economically depressed areas in the province (Section 3).
In coordination with DepEd and TESDA, the Institute must provide, as necessary and practicable, relevant teachers’ training assistance and curriculum design to secondary schools offering technical-vocational livelihood (TVL) track under the K to 12 Program within the operational radius of the Institute in Camarines Sur (Section 3).

Curricular offerings and training programs

The Institute must offer one (1)-year to three (3)-year technical-vocational courses and undergraduate certificate, including short-term courses and modular trainings in relevant technical-vocational and industrial technology education (Section 4).
The Institute must comply with employment standards in preferred market-driven labor opportunities while giving premium efforts to skills specialization for local employment requirements within the operational radius in consultation with DOLE, DTI, DILG, NEDA, business-industry partners, and other relevant agencies (Section 4).
The Institute may establish research and technology hubs, mobile training programs, and satellite or extension training centers in priority areas throughout Camarines Sur to strengthen linkages among industry, academe, and technology programs (Section 4).
The Institute must offer TESDA-registered technical-vocational courses and short-term training programs leading to National Certification Levels I to IV as applicable, aligned with development and manpower needs of all localities in Camarines Sur within the operational radius (Section 4).
The Institute must provide training options for higher-level competency qualifications in technical industrial education, trade technology, and innovation to increase livelihood assets and competitive productivity in Camarines Sur (Section 4).

Listed course areas and training topics

The Institute must provide training in (a) Agriculture and aquaculture-related trainings and skills development, including specified areas such as farming-fishing operations technology, backyard farming and home-based aquaculture, mechanized farm and fishing tools and equipment operation, agribusiness, agri-aqua trade technology and innovations, and continuing trainings for farmers and fisherfolk (Section 4).
The Institute must provide training in (b) Industrial technology and hard trades, including metal and steel works, machine fabrication and operation, heavy equipment operation, automotive mechanic, refrigeration and air conditioning, electronics, and operation of power tools and equipment (Section 4).
The Institute must provide training in (c) Tourism and hospitality-related courses, including hotel, restaurant and tourism development and management, personality development and social communication skills training, and language proficiency courses for English and other language competence for business outsourcing (call center) employment and overseas job placement (Section 4).
The Institute must provide training in (d) Livelihood skills-development, including crafts and arts workmanship and designing (fabric, woodwork, jewelry and metalwork), high speed sewing, dressmaking and tailoring, horticulture, livestock raising and breeding, food processing technology, home technology, culinary arts and commercial cooking (including baking), beauty culture (including cosmetology, hair and nail styling), and health and wellness trainings (Section 4).
The Institute must provide (e) Basic business literacy training covering financial management and marketing, practical accountancy, bookkeeping and office procedures, business processes and application procedures including registration, licensing, documentation, business patent and intellectual property regulation, business financing and investment opportunities sourcing, import-export accreditation, and online home-based business operation and social media use for business marketing (Section 4).
The Institute must provide (f) Technical-vocational occupation and trade skills including specified trades such as installation, automotive technician and servicing, electronics technician and servicing, welding technician, personal computer (PC) servicing, and other relevant practical technical skills (Section 4).
The Institute must provide (g) Computer literacy and IT-related skills, including digital technology, web design, animation, photoshop/online photography, computer design and advertising (Section 4).
The Institute must provide (h) Seminars in personality development, career counseling and job placement, and work ethics and values, and must provide (i) other preferred priority skills and trades training courses relevant to the needs of Ragay and other localities within the operational radius of the Institute and the whole Province of Camarines Sur (Section 4).

TESDA compliance and CHED limitation

The conversion must become operational only after TESDA determines and declares, through a formal recommendation and certificate of compliance, that the Institute has satisfied minimum requirements and quality standards prescribed by TESDA (Section 5).
TESDA compliance determination must cover (a) standard procedures and guidelines (SPGs) for establishment, conversion, and operation of TESDA polytechnic institutes of technical education and TESDA technology institutions; (b) operational sustainability including licensed faculty-trainors and personnel, equipment, training and laboratory facilities, instructional materials, and other TESDA-polytechnic requirements; (c) sustainable funding source and allocation of budget requirement; (d) alignment of training programs with minimum competency-based quality standards and the needs of the host municipality and adjacent areas within the Province of Camarines Sur in the context of ASEAN and PQF frameworks; and (e) compliance with other TESDA conditionalities as necessary and applicable (Section 5).
The Institute must not offer undergraduate higher education courses without prior approval of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and compliance with CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 46, series of 2012 for operation as a college or higher education institution (HEI) (Section 5).
The Institute must remain under TESDA supervision and administration and must continue offering one (1) to three (3)-year technical-vocational courses in aquaculture, fisheries, industrial education, trade technology, and other relevant technical-vocational curricular programs and related courses to meet provincial needs (Section 5).

Administration structure and staffing

The Institute must be headed by a School Superintendent under TESDA supervision (Section 6).
The School Superintendent is appointed by the TESDA Director-General in accordance with civil service rules and regulations and the qualification requirements and standards for the position (Section 6).
The School Superintendent must render full-time service and must be responsible for the administration and operation of the Institute (Section 6).
The duties and responsibilities of the School Superintendent must follow the position qualification standard of TESDA for the office (Section 6).
The TESDA Director-General may approve agreements where the appointed School Superintendent enters into mutual agreements with local-based counterpart agencies or instrumentalities and persons, both private and government, for assistance necessary to implement the Act (Section 6).
The Institute’s academic and administrative staff must be organized following TESDA staffing patterns for such schools pursuant to existing laws, rules, and regulations (Section 6).

Assets, liabilities, land ownership, and tenure

All assets, fixed and movable, personnel, records, documents, and liabilities or obligations of CASIFMAS – Ragay Campus must be transferred to the Institute (Section 7).
Faculty and personnel employed pursuant to existing laws prior to conversion must retain their positions, rights, and security of tenure and must not be impaired (Section 7).
All parcels of land belonging to the government occupied by CASIFMAS – Ragay Campus are declared property of the RPSI and must be titled under the name of the RPSI (Section 7).
If the Institute ceases to exist or if the parcels of land are no longer needed by the Institute, the land must revert to the CASIFMAS Main Campus in Pasacao, Camarines Sur, or to the Municipality of Ragay, Province of Camarines Sur (Section 7).

Funding appropriations and LGU support

The initial implementation amount must be charged against the current year’s appropriations of the Camarines Sur Institute of Fisheries and Marine Sciences (Section 8).
After the initial implementation, the amount needed for continued operation of the Ragay Polytechnic Skills Institute must be included in the annual General Appropriations Act (Section 8).
The LGU, in consultation with TESDA, must set aside from any available local revenue an amount deemed appropriate as support to the operation of the Polytechnic Institute (Section 8).

Implementing rules timeline

TESDA must, within ninety (90) days after approval of the Act, prepare and issue necessary rules and regulations for effective implementation (Section 9).
TESDA must coordinate with DOLE, DTI, DA, DBM, DILG, concerned LGUs, and other relevant agencies and industry-business partners of the host locality (Section 9).

Separability, repealing, and effectivity

If any section of the Act is deemed unconstitutional or invalid, the other sections remain in force and effect (Section 10).
All laws, executive orders, decrees, instructions, rules, and regulations contrary to or inconsistent with the Act are repealed or amended accordingly (Section 11).
The Act becomes effective fifteen (15) days after publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation (Section 12).