Dangerous proposal: Congress cool to undoing licensing of professionals

By Billy Begas

Despite the recommendation of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, Anakalusugan Rep. Michael Defensor said Congress won’t undo the licensing of professionals and other highly skilled workers.

“We do not see Congress walking back and reversing all the gains that the government has achieved in regulating and licensing various occupations,” Defensor said.

He said that occupational licensing has proven to be “vastly beneficial” to the labor force.

“It has facilitated the gainful employment of millions of Filipinos – from nurses to sailors – overseas as well as locally,” Defensor pointed out. “We are a huge labor-exporting country. We rely on our highly skilled migrant workers to help drive our economy through remittances, and licensing keeps them competitive in foreign labor markets.”

The Philippines is the world’s fourth largest recipient of remittance flows from migrant workers, after India, China, and Mexico.

In 2020, the Philippines received an estimated $34.9 billion in remittance flows from migrant workers, which accounts to 9.6% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief released in May this year.

Bello earlier recommended to scrap the licensure examinations arguing that students have already gone through multiple tests by the time they graduate. He said this would also spare students from additional expenses and allow them to practice their profession straightaway.

However, Defensor said that licensing would benefit Filipino workers from the ongoing global liberalization of the trade in skills.

He said that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is freeing up the regional trade in skills. “Filipinos will soon be able to practice their profession in other ASEAN member countries, as long as they have a valid Philippine license.”

In 1950, Congress began regulating professions through Republic Act 546, which created the Office of the Board of Examiners.

Presidential Decree 223 was issued in 1974 upgrading the Office into what is now the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

In 2000, Congress reinforced the PRC with the passage of a modernization law, Republic Act 8981.

The PRC supervises the practice of 43 professions in the fields of health, business, education, social sciences, engineering, and technology. It conducts and administers eligibility examinations to aspiring professionals.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)