The UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines was created on 26 May 1951 through Republic Act No. 621 as ammended by R.A. 892, R.A. 3489 and P.D. 223 which attaches the commission to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). It is headed by the DFA Secretary as Chairman. It has been mandated primarily to advise the Government of the Philippines on matters relating to UNESCO and appropriate ways and means by which educational, scientific and cultural developments could best benefit the country. It serves as a liaison body between the Government and UNESCO, and as such, has been contributing to the furtherance of UNESCO's major programmes and activities. Its creation was indicative ot eh coutry's strong endorsement of UNESCO's main goals of human and sustainable development and building a culture of peace through its fields of competence: education, science and technology, social and human sciences, culture and communications.
STRUCTURE
The Commission has 45 members appointed by the President of the Philippines. they are fully informed about the various programmes, projects and activities embodied in UNESCO's bienial programme and budget, as well as those contained in the Organization's Medium-Term Strategy. They participate actively in the monitoring of programmes, related projects and activities being undertaken within the country so that successes and failures in their implementation within the context of nationaldevelopment become the springboards for recommending the revision of existing programmes and the introduction of new ones considered more relevant and responsive to the changing needs of the country.
The Commission has an Executive, Committee, Programme Area Committee and Sub-Committees necessary for the effective and efficient performance of its powers and duties as the public interest may require.
The Executive Committee is headed by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Commission with 9 elected members reprsenting the five areas of UNESCO competence.
THE COMMISSION'S SECRETARIAT
In the process of executing these functions, the Commission's Secretariat headed by a Secretary-General appointed by the President, servers as the technical arm of the Commission in charge of ensuring that information from all sources within the country and from UNESCO are placed within reach of the Commission members. The mechanism for doing this through a network of working committees, one each in education, science and technology, social sciences, culture and communication. The committees, consisting of interested and competent men and women coming from the government and non-government agencies/institutions, are dynamically involved in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating projectsand action programmes within their respective areas.
As a permanent Secretariat with sufficient authority and "financial means to carry out efficiently the functions specifiend in the Charter and to increase its participation in the activities of the Organization," the Office has a personnel complement of fourteen (14), eleven of whom are regular and three are casual employees.
FINANCIAL RESOURCES
In order to carry out the provisions of the law, an amount determined by the Naional Commission of the Philippines is presented to Congress for appropriation from the funds of the National Treasury upon recommendation by the Department of Budget and Management, and approval by Congress.
CURRENT ACTIVITIES
The Commission has taken on a more progressive and active thrust in its work based on the major programmes of UNESCO. the UNESCO work in the Philippines is implemented within the framework of the Organization or dovetailed with its broad programmes and at the same time, geared t the development programmes of the Philippine Government.
In the area of education, the major thrust of UNESCO for the decade is Towards Lifelong Education for all with basic education as priority.
