House panel OKs bill amending Continuing Professional Development Act

The House committees on higher and technical education and civil service and professional regulation have approved a bill amending the Continuing Professional Development Act of 2016.

The still unnumbered substitute bill removed CPD units as a requirement for the renewal of licenses and included a new section giving agencies full compliance of their employees.

It also provides free or inexpensive seminars by government departments, agencies, and private companies for everyone to earn CPD units, as well as mandatory paid leave.

The bill also removes fees for renewal of identification cards, among other provisions.

The committees will present the substitute bill to the plenary where it will be deliberated and amended by House members before deciding if they will approve it.

House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro of ACT Teachers party-list said Wednesday the amendments on the CPD law should enable professionals to access training and other career enhancement programs.

"Professionals, in particular those working in government like public school teachers, nurses, and doctors, should not be burdened by the CPD. It is the government's mandate to provide programs for their CPD and these should thus be provided as a service," Castro said in a statement.

"We join the teachers, nurses and other professionals in their demand for accessible CPD programs responsive to their conditions and the needs for public service, not the demands of the private sector.  We will continue to monitor the developments of the CPD bill and ensure that the demands of our professionals are heard,” she added.

She said that since the passage of the CPD law in 2016, teachers have reported to their office that the law has imposed multiple financial, logistical, and psychological burdens on professionals as it requires them to accumulate credit units every three or four years by attending seminars, training courses, and other professional development activities to be able to renew their licenses or continue practicing their professions.

In addition, Castro said the CPD had been turned into another business opportunity for the private sector to exploit by turning professionals into milking cows for guaranteed profit.

"Kapaki-pakinabang sa mga guro at iba pang mga propesyunal ang Continuing Professional Development dahil kapag mahusay ang ating mga propesyunal,  magiging asset ito ng gobyerno at ng kanilang employer, ngunit kailangan itong gawing libre at dekalidad," she said.

(CPD is very valuable for our teachers and other professionals because if we have competent professionals, they become the asset both of the government and their employers. But the CPD should be free and of high quality.)

"Hindi dapat nakatali sa CPD units ang pagrerenew ng mga lisensya ng ating mga propesyunal dahil kabuhayan ng ating mga propesyunal ang nakataya dito. Siguraduhin [dapat] ng gobyerno na mahuhusay ang mga propesyunal sa bansa sa pagbibigay ng libre at dekalidad na CPD kaysa gawing negosyo ng iilan,” Castro added.

(Earning CPD units should not be tied with license renewal because it is the livelihood of our professionals which are at stake here. The government should ensure that professionals in the country be given free and high-quality CPD, instead of being a money making scheme for some.)—Llanesca Panti/AOL, GMA Integrated News