By Dominic B. dela Cruz (Staff Reporter)
Laoag City—The city
government here will grant financial incentives and recognition certificates to
bona fide residents of the city who excelled in either the bar or board
licensure examinations and declared as topnotchers by the Supreme Court of the
Philippines or the Professional Regulation Commission.
Article 14, Section 1 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution,
provides, that, “The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens
to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make
such education accessible to all”.
Article 2, Section 17 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution
likewise provides, that, “The State shall give priority to education, science
and technology, arts, culture, and sports to foster patriotism and nationalism,
accelerate social progress, and promote total human liberation and
development”.
Records show that the city government has an existing ordinance
giving cash incentives to honor/deserving elementary and high school graduates
from different public schools of Laoag City started in 1995 and every year
thereafter which mandates the city government to allocate funds for awards
purposes.
Laoag councilor John Michael Fariñas said the bar examination is
conducted once a year by the Supreme Court of the Philippines, wherein
traditionally, the top ten examinees are ranked and announced, but changes were
made in the 2021/2022 Bar Examination, which is devoid of traditionally ranking
the top ten students but instead gave the distinction of either “exemplary bar passer”
(85% and up) or “excellent bar passer” (90% and up).
Fariñas likewise said that Board Examinations for the different
professions are sanctioned and administered by the Professional Regulation
Commission (PRC) and are conducted in accordance with its issuances.
Fariñas, who chairs the committee on education, said schools in
the City of Laoag have produced numerous topnotchers in different professional
examination fields over the past years.
He added that every candidate for any licensure examination
experiences lots of hardships, not only mentally but also financially and
economically.
Having a topnotcher in an examination which is taken by thousands
of examinees from all over the country not only gives pride and honor to the
examinee, his/her family, or the school but also to the hometown of the same,
he added.
This is the reason Fariñas said that the city government deems it
proper to recognize and give gratitude to this unparalleled achievement through
financial incentives and recognition certificates, which will further uplift
the students to study harder and inculcate the importance of education.
Fariñas who authored the ordinance said that the financial
incentive and recognition certificate shall be given to topnotchers with a cash
gift of PHP50,000 and recognition
certificate for Top 1; PHP30,000
and recognition certificate for Top 2-5; and PHP10,000 and recognition certificate
for Top 6-10. Those declared to have excellent and exemplary performance shall
be treated similarly to Top 1 and Top 2-5 respectively.
However, the city government requires the topnotchers to submit a
photocopy of birth certificate or certificate of residency, photocopy of diploma
or certificate from the school where the awardee graduated and authenticated
copy of the Supreme Court or Philippine Regulation Commission certificate of
rating or examination result to the Office of the City Human Resource
Management Officer.
The Office of the City Communications and Media Affairs officer is
mandated to ensure that the examinees who are declared as topnotchers and the
local school wherein the former graduated are given the recognition for the
pride and honor that the examinees have given the City of Laoag by posting it
on its official social media sites and through publication or posters in
properties owned by the City Government of Laoag.
Relative to this, the City Government of Laoag shall appropriate PHP300,000
to be taken from the General Fund of the 2025 Annual Budget and shall continue
every year thereafter and will take effect upon the approval of 2025 annual budget
and due publication in accordance with law.