MANILA – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered a government agency to give special professional licensure exams to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) deployed in the Middle East, a senior Malacanang official announced.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the President signed an executive order directing the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) to hold and conduct such exams to qualified OFWs, especially those based in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and other Middle East countries with whom the Philippines has diplomatic relations.
The PRC is the sole government agency mandated, among other functions, to hold exams and grant licenses to qualified graduates who pass such exams in courses like medicine, nursing, engineering and the like.
Under the order, Ermita said the tests will be held once every year in the region starting December 2009.
He pointed out President Arroyo issued the order in response to the appeal and clamor of Filipino professional organizations which cited the urgent need for the holding of such tests in the region.
In particular, the appeal was made by officials of the Philippine Professional Organization-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who met with President Arroyo when she toured Al-Khobar in September as part of her state visit to the oil-rich kingdom, according to Ermita.
The officials, Ermita said, stressed that the cost of flying to Manila from the Middle East just to take the exams was expensive on the part of the OFWs who are qualified to take such tests, particularly in these hard and difficult times arising from the global financial and economic turmoil.
As such, the giving of such tests in designated areas in the Middle East would be more economical and practical for the Filipinos concerned, the officials told the President.
But more importantly, Ermita said the officials argued that if the OFWs passed such tests, this would go a long way in their vision for a united and dedicated core of professionals in the region.
Ermita said their message is contained in the Arroyo executive order, which says in part: “It is the thrust of the national government to encourage overseas Filipino workers to take and pass the licensure board examinations abroad as it would greatly enhance their edge and competitiveness in the labor market and it would spare them from expensive travel expenses and rigorous travel permits from their employers and/host country.”
He added the venue for the exams will be determined by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) through its consular offices in the Middle East.
The government estimates there are now about nine million OFWs deployed abroad, most of whom are in the Middle East, as well as in the US and North America, the United Kingdom and Italy in Europe and neighboring countries in Asia and the Pacific like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Despite the crippling global economic meltdown, the Central Bank of the Philippines has projected that the total OFW remittances would hit a staggering $17 billion for the whole of 2009 from the $16 billion reported in 2008.
Earlier, international financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund warned that the meltdown would result in a drastic reduction in the OFW remittances which helped prop the country’s economy in similar crises in the past.
Officials have explained the projected increase in remittances would be due mainly to the hiring of more Filipino professionals at much higher salaries, like sailors, doctors and nurses and young Filipino college graduates in such courses as engineering and IT (information technology) but who have yet to pass the required government licensure examinations.
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