ALKHOBAR, 14 November 2004 — Barring last-minute hindrances, the Philippine Professional Regulation Commission will conduct the long-awaited licensure examinations for Filipino engineers in the Kingdom next month, thanks to newly installed PRC chairman Alcestis Guiang.

In a letter sent to the Philippine Professional Organizations — Saudi Arabia (PPO-SA), Guiang said the licensure examinations will be held in Riyadh from Dec. 15 to 17 and in Alkhobar from Dec. 18 to 20 for civil, electrical and mechanical engineers.

“We wish to inform you that based on the number of examinees, the Commission will conduct the examinations in two centers only, in the Central Region (Riyadh) and the Eastern Region (Alkhobar),” Guiang said in his letter addressed to crrent PPO-SA chair Wilfredo Amado.

The PPO-SA is composed of Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers (PSME), the Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers (IIEE), Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE), and Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA).

Guiang also wrote Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla requesting that the examinations for Riyadh be held at the Philippine Embassy. For the Eastern Region, Guiang asked the ambassador to designate the place of examination.

The Western Region’s (Jeddah) request to hold a separate examination was not granted due to small turnout of applicants. Guiang said examinees from the region may opt to take the examinations in Riyadh or Alkhobar.

Former PPO-SA chairman Murry Demdam said he was very happy to hear the news. It was during in his tenure that PRC scrapped the holding of licensure examinations in 2002 for reason of legality and lack of funds. Then PRC chair Antonieta Fortuna-Ibe insisted that the commission had no authority to conduct licensure examinations outside the Philippines. When the Department of Justice issued a ruling that there were no legal obstacles, Ibe cited lack of funds to finance the expenses of examiners. She said the examinees should not be made to bear the burden.

Senate President Franklin Drilon tried to help by releasing 3 million pesos from his pork barrel allocation for 2003 to the PRC for use in conducting the examinations in Saudi Arabia. To the dismay of Demdam and his colleagues, Ibe came out with yet another reason to delay the examinations: she said each of the professional groups should first produce at least 150 examinees, a requirement they found difficult to meet.

Because of this requirement, accountants have been excluded from next month’s exams.

Amado of PPO-SA said that the candidates for the written exams next month on the three engineering fields must submit their requirements on or before Nov. 22 to the PRC in Manila.

The PRC started its overseas licensure examinations in 1995 as part of President Fidel Ramos’ effort to help Filipino workers abroad who are graduates of certain courses, but who have remained unlicensed, in their professional advancement.

The PRC first held a teachers’ licensure test in Hong Kong in a bid to lure back Filipino teaching graduates who have gone their to work as domestic helpers.

It was first held in Saudi Arabia in 1997 for mechanical engineers, with electrical and civil engineers eventually joining.

Embassy Eid Open House on Nov. 16

MANILA, 14 November 2004 — The Philippine Embassy will organize an open house during the Eid Al-Fitr break on Nov. 16 at the Chancery compound.

Vice Consul Germinia Usudan said the Ambassador and Mrs. Bahnarim A. Guinomla will receive well-wishers on that day. In the afternoon, Mrs. Usudan said the staff and their families and dependents will hold sports and cultural activities.

She said the ambassador will award trophies and other prizes to the winners of the badminton, volleyball, sepak takraw, table tennis and dart games during a barbeque dinner which will follow in the evening. A separate golf tournament will also be played by members of the Embassy Golfers Club at the Riyadh Golf Club.

Usudan added that the embassy has invited distressed workers at the Bahay Kalinga, many of whom observed the Ramadan fasting month.

As in the past the ambassador would like to make the open house an opportunity for everyone to exchange Eid greetings and well wishes, she said.