Philippine government officials will be working continuously with their Qatari counterparts to help around 12,000 Filipino engineers and architects qualify for equivalency certificates and practise their profession in the country legally.
A senior delegation from the Philippines has held talks with Qatari authorities over the last two days over the newly-enforced requirement to officially register with Qatar’s Urban Planning and Development Authority (UPDA), which issues equivalency certificates that enable them to practise in the country.
Speaking to reporters at the Philippine embassy yesterday, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairperson Patricia B Licuanan said the delegation had “very productive” meetings with UPDA and Ministry of Education and Higher Education officials .
“We were able to raise issues, questions were asked but we got some satisfactory answers from our visits; second point, this is a work in progress and it will continue positively,” she stressed.
“As I see it there is no real crisis and people are not about to lose their jobs,” she assured.
A Qatari delegation is expected to visit the Philippines in June or after working on an “outcomes framework” that will be used as a basis for addressing the problem.
CHED will also submit an expanded list of universities (more than 500) to the ministry, which Licuanan hopes to be accredited. It is learnt that only 92 are on its current list.
To be able to take the equivalency test, Filipino engineers and architects must have a professional Philippine licence and their college (from where they graduated) must be included on the list approved by the ministry. “These are the two basic requirements,” she noted.
Candidates will  be given four chances to pass the exam. But failure will not mean losing their jobs but their position or title would likely be downgraded.
“That is progress and it is not as frightening as it seems, that is a lot of chances,” Licuanan said.
While there is no intention of laying off or losing Filipino professionals, she noted that the Qatar government was serious in implementing the law on giving professional licences.
More than 50 Filipino engineers and architects who are facing some hurdles in getting the equivalency certificates for them to practise their profession legally in Qatar met the CHED chairperson last Sunday.
Qatar  requires a 12-year basic education, or a total of 16 years of education, for registering professionals such as architects and engineers.
“While there should be a sense of urgency for all of us, there are no absolute deadlines. In a sense, they have been quite liberal extending deadlines, and that is quite positive and reassuring,” she added.
Filipino politician and Leyte representative Martin G Romualdez yesterday urged the Department of Labor and Employment in the Philippines and other government agencies  concerned “to spare no effort to keep 12,000 Filipino architects and engineers in their jobs in Qatar”.