Duterte OKs medical scholarship program, 3 other bills

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law measures that seek to provide medical scholarship to deserving students, set up an alternative learning system for adults and out-of-school children, make certification for organic produce more affordable, and allow the president to fast-track the processing of key documents during a national emergency. 

The four laws were signed last December 23.

Republic Act 11509 or the "Doktor Para sa Bayan Act" aims to establish a medical scholarship and return service program to help deserving students pursue medical education and training and enable them to serve government public health offices or hospitals in their hometown or any underserved town. The program will be established in state universities and colleges (SUCs) or in a private partner higher education institutions in regions where there are no SUCs. Qualified applicants from municipalities without government physicians will be prioritized in the allocation for scholarship slots to ensure that there is at least one doctor for every town in the country. 

Qualified students will be entitled to free tuition and other school fees; allowance for prescribed books, supplies, and equipment; clothing or uniform allowance, dormitory or boarding house accommodation allowance; transportation allowance; internship fees, medical board review fees; licensure fees; annual medical insurance; and other education-related miscellaneous subsistence or living allowances.

To be qualified, a student must be a Filipino citizen living in the Philippines, a graduating student or a graduate of an appropriate undergraduate program identified as a prerequisite for a medicine degree from any higher educational institution recognized by the Commission on Higher Education, must have passed the entrance examinations and complied with other requirements for admission into a medicine degree, and must have obtained a National Medical Admission test score mandated by the CHED and required by the educational institution where the student intends to enroll in.

A student would lose his scholarship if he accepts another scholarship from other government or private entity, fails to meet the academic requirements or to complete the course within the period prescribed by the school he is enrolled in without valid cause, fails to obtain a passing grade in the physician licensure examination within five years from the time he has completed the mandatory internship program, and commits gross misconduct. 

After passing the physician licensure examination and the conferment of the license to practice, the scholar will become part of the public health and medical service system. The scholar will be required to serve in a government public health office, government hospital, or any accredited government health facility in his hometown or in any underserved municipality closest to his hometown for at least one year for every scholarship year availed of. A scholar will render the mandatory return service within six years from the time of passing the licensure exam for those who have availed of a four-year program and seven years for those who have availed of a five-year program. 

In times of pandemic or public health emergency, the health department may require the scholars to serve in any public health office or a government hospital where their services may be needed. A physician who has availed of the program but fails or refuses to comply with the mandatory return service and integration will be required to pay two times the full cost of scholarship. If a physician does not pay the costs, his license would not be renewed, but the provision does not apply to those who failed to comply with the required return service because of a serious illness. 

Alternative learning system  

Duterte has also signed Republic Act No. 11510 or the Alternative Learning System (ALS) Act, which seeks to provide out-of-school children and adults with opportunities to improve their readiness for higher education, work, or self-employment through a system of non-formal or indigenous education. 

The law creates a Bureau of Alternative Education that will serve as the focal office for the implementation of the learning system. The Department of Education (DepEd) will prescribe the appropriate minimum number of months required for the completion of each of the different alternative learning system programs to ensure that learners are provided with adequate and quality basic education skills. 

Those who pass the elementary level accreditation and equivalency (A&E) are qualified to enroll in junior high school while those who pass the junior high school A&E are qualified for senior high school o may enroll in selected technical vocational education and training programs. Those who pass the senior high school A&E are qualified for college education. The law also requires the DepEd, local governments, and the private sector to conduct an annual review of the ALS program and submit annual reports to Congress to measure its effectiveness and ensure its proper implementation. 

The timely passage of the Alternative Learning System (ALS) Act reaffirms DepEd’s commitment to ensuring that no learner will be left behind, even amid a pandemic.

Full statement: https://t.co/Mrg44W8Sz6 pic.twitter.com/EzLo6dWJYG

— DepEd (@DepEd_PH) January 5, 2021

Organic Act amendments

Republic Act No. 1511, meanwhile, amends the Organic Culture Act of 2010 to make the certification of organic produce by farmers and fishermen more accessible and affordable. 

It establishes a participatory guarantee system (PGS) or a mechanism by which small farmers or fisherfolk and their associations or cooperatives shall be certified as engaged in organic agriculture and as producers of organic products. Certified products will be traded only in the domestic market unless covered by an international certification or a mutual recognition agreement. Sen. Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate agriculture committee and principal sponsor of the measure, previously said PGS certification would only cost farmers P600 to P2000, and is now widely adhered to and accepted by international organic movements.

The law also creates the National Organic Agriculture Program - National Program Coordinating Office under the agriculture secretary's office to ensure the effective implementation of the national organic agriculture program. The office shall serve as the planning and administrative secretariat of the policy-making body National Organic Agriculture Board (NOAB). It also strengthens the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (BAFS), which will provide technical assistance to the NOAB and will craft guidelines for the accreditation of PGS groups.  

The law requires the NOAB to promote, search, and recognize associations or groups that have been practicing organic agriculture through their PGS and to ensure that each province has a PGS group. It also tasks the agribusiness and marketing assistance service of the agriculture department to develop and implement market development and trade promotion programs for organic agriculture. 

Faster document processing

Duterte also signed Republic Act No. 11517, which authorizes the President to expedite the processing and issuance of national and local permits, licenses, and certifications in times of national emergency. The law covers all agencies of the executive branch. 

Under the law, the President, in times of national emergency, can accelerate and streamline the regulatory processes and procedures for new and pending applications and renewals of permits, licenses, clearances, certifications, or authorizations; suspend or waive the requirements in securing the documents; prescribe to be permanent the streamlined processes and procedures and the suspension or waiver of requirements.