President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has officially signed Executive Order (EO) No. 130, establishing a national framework for class suspensions and resumptions in schools and learning centers to curb instructional loss.
Proposed by DepEd and other agency partners to amend Executive Order No. 66 (s. 2012) regarding the suspension of in-person classes, educational activities, and onsite work in educational institutions and learning centers, the policy was developed following extensive consultations with school leaders, teachers, parents, learners, private school organizations, local government units (LGUs), and government partners. EO No. 66 continues to govern the suspension of work in other government offices.
The measure, titled Establishing a Framework for the Suspension and Resumption of Classes and Activities, and Onsite Work in Educational Institutions and Learning Centers, shifts from broad cancellations to targeted, evidence-based suspensions and resumptions of in-person classes, educational activities, and onsite work in all public and private learning institutions to balance learner safety with learning continuity.
“We are deeply grateful to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for recognizing that every unnecessary day a classroom stays closed costs our children their potential,” Education Secretary Sonny Angara said. “While learner and teacher safety remains strictly non-negotiable, we can no longer rely on sweeping, blanket suspensions when a campus is dry, safe, and ready to teach.”
“By authorizing granular resumptions alongside localized suspensions, President Marcos is giving our school heads and local executives the legal framework to reopen cleared campuses safely without waiting for broader declarations,” Angara added.
Executive Secretary Ralph Recto facilitated crucial inter-agency meetings to align departments, streamline the policy framework, and fast-track the issuance of the measure.
“By authorizing granular resumptions alongside localized suspensions, President Marcos is giving our school heads and local executives the legal framework to reopen cleared campuses safely without waiting for broader declarations.”
The signing of the EO comes at an extremely opportune time as the country faces severe heat disruptions and extreme weather conditions brought about by El Niño. With climate disruptions intensifying, ranging from severe typhoons to extreme heat driven by phenomena like Super El Niño, school disruption has become an increasingly pressing challenge, making this standardized framework critical for protecting instructional time while safeguarding learners and school personnel.
Under the refined policy, localized and site-specific decision-making replaces blanket cancellations through three distinct mechanisms: automatic, localized, and granular.
The President retains concurrent authority to suspend or resume in-person classes and activities, and onsite work whenever required by public safety, national security, disaster response, public health, or the general welfare.
Automatic suspensions are triggered directly by agency-set hazard thresholds from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), or other competent national government agencies.
Localized suspensions are declared by local chief executives (LCEs) based on documented local risk assessments and prevailing conditions in coordination with the concerned agency and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
Executive Secretary Ralph Recto facilitated crucial inter-agency meetings to align departments, streamline the policy framework, and fast-track the issuance of the measure.
Crucially, the EO mandates that localized suspensions must be as specific as possible, requiring LCEs to explicitly define the covered areas down to specific barangays or identified educational institutions, rather than issuing broad municipal-wide cancellations.
Meanwhile, granular suspensions and resumptions serve as a vital fail-safe at the school level. This mechanism ensures that school heads can act directly when localized hazards affect specific campuses, allowing them to suspend classes for actual or imminent threats based on documented site-specific conditions. Where a localized suspension remains in effect, a school may seek an earlier resumption with the concurrence of the LCE. A school that declared its own granular suspension may resume classes in coordination with the LCE.
In both cases, resumption must be based on a documented site-specific assessment showing that the hazard no longer exists or has been sufficiently mitigated, including safe access to and from the school. The detailed requirements will be set in the implementing guidelines.
The EO integrates learning continuity measures, ensuring that suspending in-person classes does not halt learning through flexible learning options and alternative work arrangements for personnel.
DepEd, together with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and DENR will issue implementing guidelines outlining the specific technical thresholds, timelines, and operational procedures, supported by decision-support systems like DepEd’s Project LIGTAS+.
