Senator Chiz Escudero urged his colleagues to pass the six education-related bills endorsed by the Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education (CHTVE), including the proposed Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ETEEAP) which is envisioned to provide a more inclusive and skilled workforce in the country.
In his sponsorship speech at the plenary, Escudero said the ETEEAP under Senate Bill 2568, once enacted into law, will provide more opportunities for working professionals who have not been able to complete their college education by earning a degree through non-traditional means.
“For many college dropouts, whose skills are not receipted by a diploma, the absence of academic credentials can and does lead to opportunity losses.”
“For many college dropouts, whose skills are not receipted by a diploma, the absence of academic credentials can and does lead to opportunity losses,” the veteran legislator said.
“Often, their career advancement is blocked by a diploma wall, while those far less talented, whiz past them by flashing a diploma as a gate pass. And nowhere is this race fiercer than in the civil service, where the orthodoxy of degrees over skills reigns supreme,” the chairperson of the CHTVE added.
According to the seasoned lawmaker, it is the same “diploma wall” that blocks returning Filipino talents of overseas Filipino workers “who have done decades of tours of duty in the most competitive environments from reintegrating into an economy they can enrich with their talents and whose workers they can upskill.”
“Kahit na henyo sa IT (information technology) sa abroad, pagdating dito kung walang degree, walang trabaho. No diploma, no entry.”
“Kahit sa Michelin star resto pa naging sous chef, hindi pwedeng gawing faculty ng isang SUCs (state universities and colleges) kasi walang master’s degree. Kahit na henyo sa IT (information technology) sa abroad, pagdating dito kung walang degree, walang trabaho. No diploma, no entry,” the senator lamented.
SB 2568, he said, will correct that inequality as the measure aims to institutionalize the ETEEAP and provide necessary funds for its implementation.
The program focuses on academic equivalency and accreditation at the college level. It validates the knowledge and expertise acquired by senior high school graduates, post-secondary technical-vocational graduates, and college undergraduate students through relevant work experiences and high-level, non-formal training.
The bill designates the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as the lead implementor of program, assigning it powers and functions, such as choosing what academic programs shall be opened, and the certification process that applicants must go through.
“By granting them a pathway to earn a bachelor’s degree, this program contributes to a more inclusive and skilled workforce in the Philippines,” Escudero stressed.
Aside from SB 2568, the other bills sponsored by Escudero are following:
• SB 2569 – “An Act Creating a Tripartite Council to Address Unemployment, Underemployment, and the Job-Skills Mismatch Problem in the Country, and Appropriating Funds Therefor.”
• SB 2596 – “An Act Promoting Access to Quality Legal Education by Providing for Free Tuition and Other School Fees in State Universities and Colleges and Appropriating Funds Therefor.”
• SB 2597 – “An Act Strengthening the Legal Education Board, Thereby Amending Republic Act No. 7662, Otherwise Known as the Legal Education Reform Act of 1993, and Appropriating Funds Therefor.”
• SB 2598 – “An Act Strengthening the Mental Health Services of State Universities and Colleges and Appropriating Funds Therefor.”
• House Bill 7089- “An Act Establishing a College of Medicine in the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines- Cagayan de Oro City Campus.”
The Senate also passed on second reading House Bill 7564, which allows incumbent President of the Mountain Province State Polytechnic College to become the first President of the Mountain Province State University.
