DAMMAM, 23 April — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had been asked to tell the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) in Manila to continue administering licensure examinations for Filipino professionals in Saudi Arabia.
Four Filipino groups which formed the United Philippine Professional Associations in Saudi Arabia (UPPASA) sought the president’s intervention after being told that the PRC did not intend to conduct any more special examinations abroad this year.
The regulatory body had given out examinations for the past years for mechanical, electrical and civil engineers.
Arab News learned, however, that some PRC were opposed to holding licensure examinations outside the country because it has no legal basis. “There is no law that instructs or allows the PRC to conduct special examinations outside the Philippines,” a source from the engineering industry said.
UPPASA, in its letters to the PRC and Malacañang Palace, asked for reconsideration as it pointed out that the government should help Filipino professionals prepare for the increasingly competitive global workplace.
The letter was signed by chapter presidents Benjamin Cesora of the Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers (PSME); Robert Mabulay of the Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers (IIEE); Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE); and the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA).
The group had also asked the help of Philippine Ambassador Rafael Seguis in endorsing their plea.
Last month, Ambassador Seguis wrote PRC chairwoman Antonieta Fortuna-Ibe “highly recommending” that PRC sends a delegation to conduct the licensure exams this year.
The ambassador stated in the letter that the “OFWs have very little opportunity to take the board exams held in Manila, especially since their vacation does not necessarily coincide with the schedule of the exams” held by PRC.
Seguis also cited that “these organizations have gone even one step further in assisting their fellow Filipino professionals by conducting orientation programs and review classes for prospective examinees.”
The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh “fully supports these efforts, which show the spirit of bayanihan at work in the Filipino community in the Kingdom,” Seguis said in his letter to Fortuna-Ibe.
PRC Commissioner Alfonso Abad, who led the board of examinees in October last year, had expressed fear then that the commission may no longer hold the examinations in the Kingdom in the future.
He said the Commission will be looking into some rules and guidelines to be implemented before PRC approves the special examinations outside the country.
He said that Chairwoman Fortuna-Ibe had initially proposed for a minimum number of examinees and that the examinations be held only in one venue to minimize the expenses for the visiting delegation.
The examinees in the Kingdom shoulder all the travel-related expenses of the examiners, which includes the round-trip air fare, hotel accommodation, and food expenses as these are not included in the budget of the commission as approved by the Congress.
More examinees
UPPASA, in its resolution sent to President Arroyo, projected a total of 335 examinees to take the licensure this year.
There are 140 electrical engineers Kingdomwide, of which 85 are from Alkhobar, 35 from Riyadh and 20 from Jeddah.
The mechanical engineers have 65 examinees, of which are 35 are in Alkhobar and 30 in Jeddah.
There are also 65 civil engineers, 35 of them in Alkhobar and 30 in Jeddah.
The accountants , who are the newest professional group to try the exams in the Kingdom, have also 65 candidates, of which 25 are in Alkhobar and 20 each in Riyadh and Jeddah.
The special licensure examinations for mechanical and electrical engineers were first conducted in Saudi Arabia in 1997 during the term of President Fidel Ramos.
The then PRC Chairman Pobre recommended that time to President Ramos to conduct special examinations in Saudi Arabia as part of the government’s outreach programs to the OFWs.
Originally, the program was first launched for teachers working as domestic helpers in Hongkong in preparation for their reintegration back to the Philippines.
