More Pinoys want to be licensed professionals

MANILA, Philippines - More and more Filipinos would like to be licensed professionals, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) said yesterday.

PRC reported a continued growth in the number of licensure examinees for different professions.

“The number of professional boards under our jurisdiction is growing that is why the number of examinees have also increased. In a year, we receive about 300,000 applications for licensure examination,” PRC commissioner Jennifer Manalili said in Filipino.

From 20 boards, Manalili said that there are now 46 boards under the supervision of the PRC, with Real Estate as the newest addition.

“There is a growing demand for real estate professionals that is why more and more are taking the exam. Soon, schools would be offering a course on Real Estate Management as well,” she disclosed.

The commissioner added, PRC has started interviewing membership nominees for the soon to be created Board of Psychology and Board of Respiratory Therapy, which are expected to be established within the year.

“More courses have expressed the intention to be licensed, in fact there are (several) pending bills for new boards,” she noted.

Based on the PRC data, the number of examinees for licensed criminologists and maritime engineers is also growing.

There are also a high demand for geological mining engineers, optometrist, and medical technologist, but only a few are taking such courses.

To accommodate the growing number of examinees, PRC has implemented an online application system, which enable faster and easier application process.