House panel okays bill expanding PH Science High School system

File photo of the Philippine Science High School main campus in Quezon City.  (Taken by Grig C. Montegrande)

MANILA, Philippines — A bill that will expand the number of schools under the Philippine Science High School (PSHS) system was approved at the committee level in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

During the hearing earlier by the House committee on ways and means, legislators gave their nod to the measure, including provisions on tax exemptions for donations used for educational purposes of the PSHS, and for educational items imported by the system.

PSHS Executive Director Lilia Habacon thanked lawmakers for pushing through with the proposal.

She noted it has been almost six decades since the law on the PSHS system was crafted.

“The law of Philippine Science High School was created 59 years ago. The population then and the population now are quite different,” Habacon said.

“We really need to expand the creation of more Philippine Science High School so that more students will be able to avail of the services it provides,” she added.

Committee chair and Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda also mentioned that the PSHS system would be composed of 16 campuses — a mix of existing campuses like the PSHS main campus in Diliman, Quezon City, and other planned regional sites.

This means there would be two PSHS schools per region, excluding the other sites nominated by the bill — one in the first district of Aklan; one in Daraga, Albay; one in Ubay, Bohol; one in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte; one in Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur; one in the 3rd District of Cagayan; and one in General Santos City.

“Anyway, the moral of the story is that instead of one per region, we are expanding it to two per region, except that the additional one is being nominated in the bill,” Salceda said.

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With reports from Maria Liezl Projella, trainee

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