On March 3, 2025, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. signed the RA-12124 known as the ETEEAP Bill. This is to establish the May 10, 1996 Executive Order 330 (EO330) of former President Fidel V. Ramos into a law or Republic Act.
But why the RA-12124 when we already have the EO330 of 1996? Did we just create a redundancy and the present Marcos leadership wasting their time creating a bill on something that was already in place? Are they not just stealing someone’s legacy and program?
Here is the answer.
Please be aware that the Philippine government structure has three main branches which many of those who have gone to school have already learned about. These are the following:
- The Executive Branch
– This is being lead and supervised by the president of the Philippines. Under this branch are the military (AFP), police (PNP), defense (DND), justice department (DOJ), education department (DEPEd), commission on higher education (CHED), department of energy (DOE), department of agriculture (DA) and other departments as part of the cabinet of this branch. - The Legislative Branch
– As of the year 2025, this is mainly composed of the Congress and the Senate, which in the Philippines is bicameral (Meaning two chambers, or houses, of legislators). They are responsible for creating laws (bills) that should be implemented by the executive branch and upheld by the judiciary. Although this branch is the one responsible of legislating laws, it is the president who finally signs them and seal them to be called a republic act (RA). That means, the executive branch approves and ratifies the bill, and agrees its full implementation through the responsible cabinet or department under its supervision and jurisdiction. - Judiciary Branch
– This branch is responsible for settling disputes related to the implementation and adherence to the laws created by the legislative branch and implemented by the executive branch. It also oversees adherence of the two other branches to the constitution as they carry out their specific mandates. The judiciary makes sure that creation of any law by the legislative branch, and the enforcement of such by the executive branch are within the bounds of the constitution. Violations, disagreements and disputes on any of the laws will be handled by this branch, and any decision it hands down will be implemented by the executive branch through its department of justice, the police and/or the responsible branch of the military.
With the above background, we can see that the EO330 of 1996 (called the ETEEAP) was not a law but was just an operating procedure instituted by the president and directed to a specific department, which was the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to implement a new project that will benefit out-of-school youths along with those who had to prioritize working at a young age over completing a college degree at that time. And it really benefited a lot of Filipinos. Since such EO did not violate any provisions in the Philippine Constitution, the other two branches never stepped in to stop it.
Five more presidents (Estrada, Arroyo, Arroyo, Aquino and Duterte) came after Ramos but none of them discontinued that operational procedure ordered by their predecessor. However, it was never ratified as a bill or law during their incumbencies. But thanks to them for their continued support for, or for not discontinuing, what former President Ramos had started.
It was only during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. that congress worked on ratifying the ETEEAP bill which was read by the Philippine 19th Congress as House Bill No. 5728 on November 8, 2022, and approved by the senate as the Senate Bill No. 2568 of September 16, 2024 and eventually signed as republic act on March 3, 2025 by the president.
So what is the difference between the EO-330 of 1996 and the RA-12124 of 2025?
- The EO-330 of May 10, 1996 was not a law, but was just an operating procedure established by the president and directed to the Commission on Higher Education to implement.
- The RA-12124 of March 3, 2025 was read by the Philippine 19th Congress as House Bill No. 5728 on November 8, 2022, and approved by the senate as the Senate Bill No. 2568 of September 16, 2024. Then on March 3, 2025 was signed by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
If you want to know the details of the RA-12124, please visit the links below where you can find images of the downloadable copy in the Supreme Court E-Library link.
You may click on the links below to see the official document.
Official Facebook Gazette link
Supreme Court E-Library link
Official Gazette linkAn official copy of the RA-12124 can be seen and downloaded here.
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