Filtered By: Topstories
News

OFWs can now take RP board exams in Mideast


Filipinos working in the Middle East will no longer need to go back to the Philippines to take licensure examinations. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered government agencies to hold yearly special board exams for Filipinos in the said region in Southwestern Asia. Mrs. Arroyo recently issued Executive Order 835, directing the Philippine Labor department through the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) to conduct Special Professional Licensure Board Examinations for qualified overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and other Middle East countries that have diplomatic relations with the Philippines. The PRC will hold the exams in coordination with the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippine Bureau of Immigration, and the Philippine Professional Organizations (PPO) in Saudi Arabia. The exams will be held once a year starting December 2009. The designated government agencies will work on the required permits from the host countries, the provision of the venue of examinations, and the travel documents for those who will give the board exams, according to Mrs. Arroyo. She said the expenses for the holding of the special exams would be charged against the budget of the PRC. The Philippine government recognizes the important role of professionals in nation-building and the need to “maintain the reservoir of our professionals whose competence has been determined by honest and credible licensure examinations and whose standards of professional service and practice are internationally recognized and considered world-class," according to the President. “It is the thrust of the national government to encourage qualified OFWs 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 form their employers and/or host countries," she added. There are more than a million OFWs working in the Middle East, majority of them in oil-rich Saudi Arabia. - GMANews.TV

LOADING CONTENT