ANGARA EYES PENSIONADO PROGRAM TO BOOST RP'S S&T COMPETITIVENESS

Senator Edgardo J. Angara today said that it is a must for the country to establish a Pensionado program in order to develop a pool of expert professionals who shall endeavor improve the country's Science and Technology competitiveness.

"It is imperative that the Philippines should devise a program for overseas education and training for the brightest and most promising Filipinos who are already employed or self-employed in a branch of science or technology along identified priority areas. Such a program shall affect the pooling together of all foreign and local sponsorship intended for further education, enrichment and training of exceptionally able and highly motivated and employed Filipinos," said Angara who chairs the Senate Committee on Science and Technology.

He added, "The Pensionado program endeavors to provide the Philippines a continuing supply of highly trained leaders for industry, research and academe. The maximum utilization of returning talents will be coordinated under a single governing body where all scholarships under foreign and local sponsorship are pooled together."

According to the National Competitiveness Council's Action Agenda developed in September 2006, in order to improve the country's global competitiveness there is a need to improve our human resource competency, especially in science and technology.

Angara also noted the fact there is not enough engineers and scientists who are taking up graduate studies in specialized fields.

To address this, Angara recently filed a bill which seeks to establish a fellowship program to be called as the "Pensionado Program" for Filipinos employed in the government and the private sectors and those who are self-employed.

"Through the Pensionado program, we can invest in our human resource potentials in the end goal of providing better life for the many Filipinos through S&T," said Angara.

The program will be handled by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in coordination with non-government organizations (NGOs), the private sector and other government agencies such as the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Department of Education (DepED).

The program will coordinate all fellowships, scholarships, training grants intended for advanced studies in international centers of advanced learning, scholarship and research.