wfn.org | Professional Licensure opens to Sabbatarians in Philippines

[BeckettJ@gc.adventist.org]

ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
December 12, 2000
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Professional Licensure opens to Sabbatarians in Philippines

Manila, Philippines ... [ANN] Philippine President Joseph Ejercito Estrada
signed into law a significant bill for Seventh-day Adventists on December 8.
The "Professional Regulation Commission Modernization Bill" ensures that
Philippine professional licensure examinations will only be scheduled on
weekdays and not on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

Many Seventh-day Adventists in the Philippines had been denied professional
licensure in the past because the examinations were scheduled on Saturdays,
the Adventists' Sabbath day. "Because Adventists chose not to attend classes
or examinations on their Sabbath, many professional people had to wait years
to get licensed," says Jemima Orillosa, a native of the Philippines who
currently works in Secretariat at the Seventh-day Adventist Church's world
headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. "A person applying for their
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license, for instance, might be able to
take one part of the exam and then wait long years to find other parts of
the exam scheduled for a weekday," she adds.

Congressman Harlin C. Abayon (First District, Northern Samar), who worked on
this bill, intentionally sought chairmanship of the Civil Service Committee
in the Philippine House of Representatives so that he could help members of
the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Together with Pastor Bienvenido Tejano,
Philippine Ambassador to Papua New Guinea and religious liberty director for
the church's North Philippine region, Abayon worked with the country's
legislators for the bill to be passed first in the House of Representatives
and later in the Senate.

Earlier in his term, President Estrada had issued an administrative order to
the Professional Regulation Commission that examinations should not be done
on Saturdays, but Pastor Tejano and Congressman Abayon wanted the assurance
of seeing the intention put into law to ensure that Sabbath examinations be
avoided in the future.

After signing the bill, President Estrada said, "I have fulfilled my
promise."

Among the witnesses to the signing of the bill were Congressman Abayon and
his wife, Ambassador Tejano, Violeto F. Bocala, president of the Southern
Asia-Pacific region of the Adventist Church, Howard F. Faigao, associate
publishing director of the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide, Alberto
C. Gulfan, Jr., president of the Central Philippine Union Mission; Pastor
Hiskia I. Missah, youth director and director of religious liberty in the
Southern Asia-Pacific region, and Nestor D. Dayson, president of the North
Philippine Union Mission. [Raquel Floresta Operana/Charlotte McClure]
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Contact Information: 
Communications Department
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
12501 Old Columbia Pike
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Phone: 301-680-6300
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