If you are a Filipino professional regulated by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), then you are most familiar about the continuing professional development or CPD credits. Mandated under Republic Act No. 10912, these credits according to the PRC are the learnings achieved from formal, informal, and non-formal environments such as professional work experience. These are usually required in renewing your professional license and each profession has a prescribed number of credits per renewal period.
However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were several measures employed by PRC through the Professional Regulatory Boards such as an option to sign an undertaking to waive the current required credits for renewal while promising to top-up the credits with the next renewal period, i.e. 15 for the current period will be added to the next 15 credits of the following renewal, making it 30 in total.
The PRC has announced earlier this year that Oaths of Undertaking can be applied up to December 31, 2023. Thus, professionals are advised to begin collecting CPD credits as it might be required come 2024.
Assuming you already know how CPD credits are earned, here is the best way to validate your CPD credits in the official PRC website.
The PRC has a dedicated website for CPD credits known as the Continuing Professional Development Accreditation System (CPDAS). The platform can be accessed by both CPD providers as well as professionals who wish to track their CPD credits. For professionals, you can login or sign up through this link:
Signing Up
When accessing the link above, you will be able to login or sign up. If it is your first time, select the latter. You will then be redirected to the sign up form where you will be required to go over the terms and conditions. After reviewing you can click Agree.
Important Note: You need to make sure all the information you placed upon registering matches the information in your Professional Identification Card (PIC). This includes your full name, gender, birth date, profession, license number, registration date, and year of validity of license. The registration should look like this:
After filling up the information mentioned above, you will be asked to provide your email address and set up your password. As a pro tip based on my experience, it will also be best to register using the same credentials as your Licensure Examination and Registration Information System (LERIS) account in PRC. But be mindful that although both are connected to PRC, they are fully separate and you can use different emails if you wish.
Visit your dashboard
After registering, you can now login and access your personal CPDAS Account. You will be asked to enter your email address and your password. After logging in, you will be led to your dashboard. In this page, you will be able to see your list of accredited programs attended as well as a list of accredited programs attended before CPDAS.
Your dashboard should look like this:
Aside from the dashboard, you can file an application for CPD units for various learning activities you attended. This can be applied for online but verification may be done onsite at the nearest PRC office to you.
More thoughts
The continuing professional development program has met both positive and negative feedback among professionals. The CPD system is an internationally practiced mechanism which ensures professionals are updated with continuously growing industries. Demand for new skills evolve. Thus, to advance your career, you will need to develop certain competencies which are best documented by certifications from learning activities.
Attendance to conferences are also opportunities to expand your network which can be vital for future projects. Sharing by experience, most of the people I work with even outside my profession are people I met in conferences and seminars. One excellent way to maximize your attendance in conferences is to particularly choose to attend in those organized by your professional organization. You also have to be on the look out for CPD-accredited ones so that your CPD credits are credited to your CPDAS account without the hassle of applying for CPD units.
The CPD is a reminder that we also need to invest in ourselves and our competencies. While we also love to spend the holidays for vacation, we also need to make sure we remain competent in our chosen field of profession. Thus, attendance in conferences and trainings should also be part of our annual budget as individuals. If we are extra lucky, some companies provide support for their employees to attend these.
Now, go ahead and check your CPD credits.
Disclaimer: Ilonggo Engineer is not affiliated with the Professional Regulation Commission. Please make sure you get the most accurate and updated information in the right outlets including the official social media pages of the PRC and their website.
Ilonggo Engineer 