Opinion > Columns
RA 11984: The 'No Permit, No Exam Prohibition Act'

THE LEGAL MIND

REPUBLIC Act 11984, or the 'No Permit, No Exam Prohibition Act,' was enacted into law upon signing by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on March 11, 2024. The law takes effect 15 days after its publication.

The enactment of RA 11984 provides clear mandates and standards, but like most laws, it would require the issuance of implementing rules and regulations by the education agencies to fill in the details lacking in the law to ensure proper implementation. This is consistent with the principle of delegated rule-making of administrative agencies with the caveat that the same should be germane to and not in conflict with the law it is entrusted to implement. The implementing rules should also be aligned with the constitutional policies on education, more particularly reasonable supervision and regulation of all educational institutions and the guarantee of academic freedom of all higher education institutions. Reasonable supervision and regulation, according to the Supreme Court in a long line of cases, cannot be tantamount to State control. Quoting the framers of the Constitution, 'When the Constitution speaks of State supervision and regulation, it does not in any way mean control... it does not include the right to manage, dictate, overrule, prohibit or dominate.'