SEN. Francis Escudero has urged his colleagues to support the passage of six education-related measures endorsed by the Committee on Higher, Technical, and Vocational Education, including the Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ETEEAP), which will be the pathway for undergraduates to earn a bachelor’s degree.
In his sponsorship speech during last Tuesday’s plenary session, Escudero said Senate Bill No. 2568, or an Act Institutionalizing the ETTEAP, once enacted into law, will provide a more inclusive and skilled workforce since the absence of credentials is the main cause of stalled career advancement in most cases.
“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 fiercer than in the civil service, where the orthodoxy of degrees over skills reigns supreme,” Escudero said.
He lamented that the “diploma wall” blocks returning 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.”
As an example, he said a Filipino who became a sous chef in a prestigious restaurant abroad could not be allowed to become a faculty member of State Universities and Colleges because of the absence of a master’s degree.
Likewise, he said that a genius in information technology abroad cannot get a job in the country if he or she has no college degree.
“No diploma, no entry,” he added.
He said SBN 2568 will fix the inequality since the proposed measure aims to institutionalize ETEEAP and provide funds for its implementation.
He said the program will focus on academic equivalency and accreditation at the college level and will validate the knowledge and expertise acquired by senior high school graduates, post-secondary technical-vocational graduates, and college undergraduates through relevant work experiences and high-level non-formal training.
It will tap the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as the lead implementor, assigning its 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,” he added.
Aside from SBN 2568, the other measures that Escudero sponsored were SBN 2569 or an Act Creating a Tripartite Council to Address Unemployment, Underemployment, and Job-Skills Mismatch Problem in the Country; SBN 2596 or an Act Promoting Access to Quality Legal Education by Providing for Free Tuition and Other School Fees in State Universities and Colleges; SBN 2597 or an Act Strengthening the Legal Education Board, Thereby Amending Republic Act No. 7662, Otherwise Known as the Legal Education Reform Act of 1993; SBN 2598 — An Act Strengthening the Mental Health Services of State Universities and Colleges; and House Bill 7089 or 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 the incumbent president of the Mountain Province State Polytechnic College to become the first President of the Mountain Province State University.
