ALKHOBAR, 29 October — The Philippine Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) plans to also give special licensure examinations for Filipino accountants, architects, nurses, and even teachers who are in the Kingdom next year.

PRC Commissioner Alfonso Abad said they inclusion of the other disciplines would make the chance of conducting the licensure tests in the Kingdom next year better.

Abad, who had been in the Kingdom since Oct. 19, earlier said that the PRC will be issuing a new rule placing a minimum number of examinees for special exams held outside the Philippines. The combined number of OFWs who took the civil, electrical and mechanical engineering tests the past two weeks met the required minimum.

Abad, who headed the team of examiners, said the three engineering fields may not be able to meet the requirement to merit another round of examinations in 2002 but with other professions included, the minimum could be met.

PRC chairwoman Antonieta Fortuna-Ibe, Abad said, will soon announce the minimum number as soon as the board decides.

He said a substantial number of examinees would reduce the cost on the part of those who are taking the test, officials said.

Participants in out-of-town special tests are made to bear the expenses of the examiners because the PRC does not have the resources for such activity.

In the previous exams given in the Kingdom, it was the Instititute of Integrated Electrical Engineers (IIEE), the Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers (PSME), and the Association Filipino Civil Engineers in Saudi Arabia (AFCE) that helped bear the cost.

Abad’s group has to travel for 10 days from Riyadh to Jeddah and finally to Alkhobar to administer the special examinations for the three disciplines. With Commissioner Abad were PRC licensing director Amelia Empaynado, who painstakingly review and processed all the applications and single-handedly proctored the examinations.

The group also include Rodolfo Peñalosa, chairman of the Board of Electrical Engineering (BEE); Antonio Coronel and Jose Abinoja, both BEE members; and IIEE national president Fe Barrientos.

The examiners also graced the annual convention and election of 2002 officers of the IIEE Eastern Region Chapter held last Friday at the Le Gulf Meridien Hotel here in Alkhobar. Peñalosa said that for teachers, nurses, architects, and accountants to be covered by special examinations, their professional chapter organizations based in the Kingdom should make a formal request to the PRC in Manila.

The accountants have their chapters of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) and the nurses have the Riyadh-based FILNASA, an affiliate of the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) in Manila.

The officials warned that PRC may be looking at a minimum of 300 applicants aggregate of different groups. Penalosa then encouraged all the professional graduates to the take the licensure exams otherwise, they will have to wait for the next schedule to be approved by PRC once the minimum number of applicants had been met.

During the convention, IIEE national president Fe Barrientos, who is also chief of the mechanical-electrical division of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Manila, swore in the new set of officers of IIEE-ERCSA for year 2002.

They are: Robert Mabulay, president; Juanito Bautista, internal vice-president; Nick Eugenio, external vice president; Nelson Tagapulot, technical vice president; Rey Gines, secretary; Marino Panganiban, treasurer; Walter Abaya, auditor; Noel Obras, assistant secretary; Vic Sorrosa, assistant treasurer; Dennis David, assistant auditor; and Cesar dela Cruz, press relation officer.