JV Ejercito seeks repeal of Continuing Professional Development Act

Senator JV Ejercito has filed a bill seeking to repeal the Continuing Professional Development Act, which he said has made license renewals for professionals more tedious and expensive.

In explaining Senate Bill 1162, Ejercito said Filipino professionals are continuously challenged by "exorbitant fees and confusing processes" in completing their requirements under Republic Act 10912 or the CPD Act of 2016.

"While the CPD Act aims to develop and maintain professional competencies by serving as a gateway in gaining new skills and knowledge in their professions, compliance to the said law does not come cheap particularly for struggling professionals," Ejercito said.

The senator cited a news report stating that seminars from private CPD providers can cost nurses at least P1,000 per session.

He also mentioned the concern of several groups of teachers that even before the implementation of the CPD Act, teachers and other professionals have already been engaging in CPD activities.

"Needless to say, the CPD Act has made the process unnecessarily costly," Ejercito said.

With the issuance of a recent Professional Regulatory Commission resolution that extended the acceptance of license renewals without CPD units, Ejercito said RA 10912 has inflicted a costly burden on Filipino professionals as the country is grappling with the rising inflation.

“At this time, when inflation has risen yet again and Filipinos struggle with soaring food prices, the 2.56 million registered Filipino professionals do not need additional costly burden of complying with their CPD requirements. Thus, the CPD Act needs to be repealed,” Ejercito said in a statement.

RA 10912 established CPD programs for all regulated professions and made CPD a mandatory requirement for the renewal of personal identification cards of all registered and licensed professionals under the regulation of the PRC. —Hana Bordey/KBK, GMA News