ANGELES CITY — Pampanga 1st District Rep. Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin, Jr., on Sept. 4 filed a bill mandating the establishment of the Philippine Online Library and the digitization of all prescribed references for public education.
Under House Bill No. 4356, to be known as the “Establishing the Philippine Online Library and Digitization of Public School References Act,” the Department of Education, in coordination with the National Library of the Philippines (NLP), shall be responsible for the creation of digitized copies of all prescribed textbooks and essential reference materials for each year level in elementary and secondary school.
The digitized copies of textbooks and reference materials will be made available through a national online library that shall be managed jointly by the NLP and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
The Philippine Online Library shall be accessible to the public, free of charge, through an online platform that may be accessed by students with internet access.
As per the projection of the DepEd for school year 2025 to 2026, there are about 27.6 million enrollees in basic education; however, according to the report of the Congressional Committee on Education, from 2012 to 2022, only Grades 5 and 6 have complete textbooks.
“This data suggests that for the past decade, the Philippine education system has been struggling since our young learners in public schools have been sharing textbooks,” Lazatin said.
“The digitization of textbooks and other essential references, and making it freely available online, will give more students access to the learning materials that they need,” Lazatin added, “We shouldn’t gatekeep knowledge; it should be made available to anyone who wants to learn.”
The Philippine Online Library is envisioned as a means to bridge the gap in the learning resources whereby learners may be able to access a whole range of materials in their own spaces or homes.
It can be recalled that during his time as Angeles City mayor, Lazatin led the renovation of the three-storey Angeles City Library and Information Center (ACLIC) into a modernized, state-of-the-art facility, which was formally inaugurated on March 19, 2024.
The renovated ACLIC boasts of a broad range of resources, spacious and comfortable reading and seating areas, and computer working stations.
As district representative, Lazatin is also set to request P200 million to fund the construction of computer labs in 19 public high schools in the First District in 2026.
Under the project, a state-of-the-art computer laboratory will be constructed in six public high schools in Magalang Municipality, 12 public high schools in Mabalacat City, and in Francisco G. Nepomuceno Memorial High School (FGNMHS) in Angeles City.
Each laboratory will be equipped with 50 computers – with five printers for every 10 computers; two air-conditioners; and one 55-inch smart TV. Team Lazatin PR
