SENATE Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said that the computer-based licensure examinations project of the Professional Regulation Commission is long overdue.

Villanueva explained that the PRC Modernization Act of 2000 or Republic Act 8981 was enacted more than two decades ago.

“Two decades have passed since the PRC Modernization Act was enacted and we have gone through two years of the pandemic. The PRC’s capacity to widely and efficiently conduct computer-based licensure examinations is very long overdue,” he said.

PRC Commissioner Dr. Jose Cueto Jr. said that no funds were allocated for setting up CBLEs in PRC regional offices for next year.

Villanueva said that CBLEs allow the PRC to make up for instances when licensure exams are cancelled due to natural calamities and health emergencies such as the pandemic.

At the height of the pandemic in 2020, only 11 out of 85 licensure exams were conducted, according to the PRC.

In 2021, agency conducted 62 out of 101 licensure exams. Only one CBLE was held in 2021.

Villanueva noted that the Licensure Examinations for Teachers were cancelled four times between 2020 and 2021.

The senator said that the livelihood of the examinees is held back by the exam cancellations and examinees are forced to wait for another six months for the next scheduled exam, vying for a slot against a new batch of examinees as well as repeat examinees.

Villanueva said that the CBLEs are an obvious solution in providing access to board exams.

“Let’s not wait twenty more years. We needed a fully functional CBLE years ago. We are eager to hear from the PRC its modernization plans for transitioning to a digitalized system of conducting licensure exams,” he said.

Republic Act 8981 mandates the PRC to implement the full computerization of all licensure examinations by the various professional regulatory boards.