PRC wants P72-M to expand computer-based licensure exams to more regions

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) is requesting an additional P72 million from Congress in order to increase equip its regional offices with the capacity to conduct computerized licensure examinations.

PRC Commissioner Dr. Jose Cueto Jr. told the Senate Finance Committee on Friday that the additional funding would allow the regional offices to follow Metro Manila in providing the computer-based exams. The amount being requested is not yet included in the PRC’s proposed P1.7 billion budget for 2023.

“We started the computerized licensure exams last year in small number of examinees because we have to do it first in our testing centers and we utilized one local area network,” Cueto explained at the committee hearing.

“We still don’t have the capacity of conducting it in the rest of our regional offices. We need funding to set up the computerized licensure examinations in our regional offices.”

The PRC is an associated agency to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), whose P25.9 billion budget was tackled by the finance committee.

The commission held its first computerized licensure exam for geologists in December 2021. Next, it held another computer-based test for psychologists in January 2022.

Cueto stated that they are attempting to deal with the backlog of license exams that have accumulated over the last two years as a result of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

In contrast to the 61 tests that were held in 2021, only 11 exams were given in 2020.

The PRC commissioner disclosed that 51 exams were administered between January and August of this year. Up until the end of the year, it intends to hold 44 more.

According to him, the PRC plans to conduct 84 licensing tests for 629,370 candidates in 2023.

Senator Francis Tolentino called attention to the PRC’s second-highest amount of unused appropriations in the 2021 DOLE budget. He mentioned that the PRC has $526.9 million in unused appropriations.

“The unused appropriations came from the inability to conduct the licensure exams. As far as programs are concerned, the licensure program receives the biggest allocation as far as our budget is concerned. So, if we are not able to conduct licensure examinations, the budget utilization ratio really goes down,” Cueto explained.