Angara urges PRC to set up satellite venues for board exams

Amid suggestions to scrap the licensure examinations, Senator Sonny Angara on Tuesday instead urged the Philippine Regulatory Commission (PRC) to look into establishing satellite venues for this year’s board examinations as travel was still limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, Angara said the PRC can establish satellite testing venues in provinces where there are over 100 examinees.

“[Local government units] can support the program by providing the venues for the exams and the personnel needed for this purpose. The PRC can just provide the necessary training for these personnel. By doing this, the cost should not be too much on the part of the government,” Angara suggested.

Currently, board exams are held at the regional offices of the PRC and this will require some graduates to travel long distances from their hometowns.

Angara underscored the “very challenging” travel across borders due to quarantine restrictions implemented by various local government units.

He added that families are grappling with financial woes due to the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“All of these add up and may prove to be prohibitive to many families. Ayaw naman natin na may mga graduate tayo na hindi matuloy sa kanilang PRC exam dahil sa laki ng kailangan gastusin sa panahon na ito,” Angara said.

(We don’t want to see graduates who cannot take the PRC exam because they cannot provide for the cost of the examinations especially during this pandemic.)

“During this time we need more doctors, nurses, policemen, and with the possible reopening of face-to-face classes soon, teachers, so we should find ways to increase their numbers,” Angara said.

The lawmaker said the government should find ways to produce more frontliners amid the pandemic.

“Setting up satellite exam venues is one small way we can help in this effort,” Angara said.

Last week, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III floated the idea of doing away with licensure exams, particularly for law and nursing professions.

He later clarified that he was merely proposing for the relevant regulators to study the possibility of abolishing licensure exams before a person can enter a particular profession.

Commission on Higher Education chairman Prospero De Vera III earlier said scrapping licensure exams should be based on empirical data.

The Philippine Nurses Association and Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo also opposed Bello’s proposal. — DVM, GMA News