ALKHOBAR, 1 August 2003 — Accountants will be covered by the licensure examinations to be given by the Philippine Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) in the Kingdom this year, a Filipino professional group has said.

For the past years since the licensing agency started conducting tests for overseas Filipinos, only the mechanical, electrical and civil engineers were covered in Saudi Arabia.

Last year when PRC examiners were in the Kingdom, officials of the Eastern Province chapter of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) requested the inclusion of accountants in the annual tests and the examiners agreed.

Chapter president Roque Millete said the request had been firmed up in a letter by the PRC to the Philippine Professional Organizations (PPO) in Saudi Arabia, saying the licensing agency was “finalizing the mechanics for the smooth conduct of these examinations.”

PICPA is one of the four members of the PPO. The others are the Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers (IIEE), Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers (PSME), and the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE).

With the PRC’s go-ahead, the four groups have been conducting review classes for their unlicensed members in preparation for the exams that have been scheduled in the middle of November.

IIEE chapter president Johnny Bautista said that accountants, mechanical and electrical engineers are conducting their review sessions at the Asian Alkhobar International School (AAIS). John Mendiola, PICE chapter president, said that the civil engineers are reviewing at the International Philippine School in Alkhobar (IPSA).

Early this year, the PRC announced that it was scrapping its overseas exams program, saying it did not have the mandate to do so. Besides, it said it did not have a budget for the transportation expenses of its examiners.

Last month, however, it agreed to resume the program after Senate President Franklin Drilon assured them that it was legally justified. He also allocated three million pesos for the PRC’s outreach exams from his share of the 2003 Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), otherwise known as the pork barrel fund.

Murry Demdam, chapter president of PSME, said the four organizations had written Drilon and Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla to thanks them for helping OFWs in their professional enhancement programs.