Senate approves ‘balik scientist’ bill

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate approved on third and final reading earlier this week a bill that seeks to institutionalize benefits and incentives for scientists, engineers and innovators of Filipino descent residing overseas to encourage them to stay in the country and work for national development.  

Senate Bill 1533, also known as the Balik Scientist Act, was principally authored and sponsored by Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri, Joel Villanueva, Richard Gordon, Grace Poe, Sherwin Gatchalian, Joseph Victor Ejercito and Cynthia Villar also served as co-sponsors of the measure.  

Aquino said the measure would institutionalize the Balik Scientist Program, first launched in 1975 “to bring back Filipino scientists, engineers, and technology entrepreneurs to work in various fields, including heath, food and agriculture, information and communications technology (ICT), and even alternative energy.” 

“It is about time that we institutionalized and strengthened the Balik Scientist Program so that more brilliant Filipino minds residing abroad can help our nation move forward into prosperity,” he said. 

Among the benefits, incentives and privileges to be made available to Filipino scientists under the program are tax and duty exemptions to importation of professional equipment and materials, exemption from licensing or permitting requirements, free medical and accident insurance “covering the duration of the engagement awarded by the Department of Science and Techonology (DOST), reimbursement of expenses for baggage related to scientific projects, and even exemption from “renouncing their oath of allegiance to the country where they took the oath.”

Grantees can participate in Grants-in-Aid research and development projects of the DOST with an initial lump sum research subsidy of P500,000 for short-term program, P500,000 to P2 million for medium-term, and P2 million for long-term program in accordance with relevant government rules and regulations. 

The benefits also include special working and non-working visas, a round-trip business class airfare from a foreign country to the Philippines “exempt from local travel tax,” and DOST-subsidized visa applications.  

During the public hearings held by the committee on the bill, it was discovered that the Philippines has only 189 scientists per million population, far from the ideal target of 380 per million.

Aquino said that the country “pales in comparison” with other countries. For instance, he said, South Korea and the United States have 5,300 and 3,500 scientists per million, respectively, while Malaysia has 2,000 scientists per million.