Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Section one of Republic Act Numbered Seven hundred nine is amended to read as follows:

"SECTION 1. The teaching of Spanish is hereby declared obligatory in all the universities and colleges, public and private, and all students shall be required to complete units, at least, in the said subject: Provided, however, That in the courses of Law, Commerce, Liberal Arts, Foreign Service and Education, the students shall be required to complete at least twenty-four units without increasing the number of years required at present for the completion of such courses, which twenty-four units shall include the teaching of the following in their original Spanish versions to wit, Mabini's Memorias de la Revolucion Filipina; a compilation of the outstanding speeches in the Congress of the First Philippine Republic; and a compilation of the great poems of Jose Rizal, Cecilio Apostol, Fernando Ma. Guerrero, Jose Palma, Claro M. Recto, Jesus Balmori, Manuel Bernabe, Flavio Zaragoza Cano, Pacifico Victoriano, and other notable Filipino poets, specially poems of patriotic and nationalistic character as well as those depicting the Philippine scene, the said compilation to be undertaken by the Secretary of Education, the head of the department of Spanish in the University of the Philippines, and the head of the department of Spanish in any private university who shall be chosen by the Secretary of Education: Provided, further, That this shall not include students who, before the approval of this Act, have already obtained units in other foreign languages in order to satisfy existing requirements regarding other foreign languages, in which case said students can continue studying said languages until such requirements shall have been fully satisfied: Provided, finally, That Spanish be optional to foreign students."

SEC. 2. This Act shall take effect beginning with the school year 1957-1958.

Approved, June 22, 1957.