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Friday, March 29, 2024

‘Balik Scientists’ wanted

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Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda wants to strengthen and institutionalize the government’s “Balik Scientist Program” to encourage overseas Filipino scientists and technologists to come home, share their expertise, and help speed up the country’s development.

Salceda recently filed House Bill 4366 in Congress, titled “Balik Scientists Act of 2016,” designed to bolster the Balik Scientist Program established under Presidential Decree 819 in 1975 and revived successfully during the term of former President Fidel Ramos.

The bill aims to strengthen “the scientific and technological human resources of the academe, public institutions and domestic corporations to promote knowledge sharing and accelerate the flow of new technologies into the country.”  

It also proposes better benefit packages for experts returning home, and tasks the Department of Science and Technology to publicize the scheme and the guidelines for it.

HB 4366 defines “Balik Scientist” as a science or technology expert or professional, certified by DoST, who is a Filipino citizen or a foreigner of Filipino descent, residing abroad, and contracted by the government to return and serve in the Philippines along his or her field of expertise for a defined term or time of engagement.

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Salceda said the country needs to tap the expertise of expatriate Filipino scientists and technologists, a move deemed as a “vital component of the nation’s political, economic and social development efforts.”

“Towards this end, any foreign-based scientist, professional, technician, or any person who is of Filipino descent, with special skills or expertise, shall be encouraged and allowed to share his or her professional expertise in the Philippines,” he said.

With the original program’s remarkable outcome and the presence of many highly-trained overseas professionals who are experts in agriculture, energy and nutrition development, former President Ramos revived the program through Executive Oder No. 130 issued in 1993.

A lot more Filipino scientists, technology experts, and researchers outside the country have not been tapped due to circumstances that cannot be addressed by the existing program, Salceda noted.

“It is for this reason that the BSP needs to be institutionalized and strengthened through a legislative fiat that will include better incentives and benefits that would draw these Filipino experts to return to their beloved country and share even for a limited period, and hopefully for good, their knowledge and expertise, thereby helping their country attain its objective of accelerating economic and social development,” the lawmaker said.

HB 4366 tasks the DOST to promulgate the implementing rules and regulations for the new Balik Scientist program, in consultation with relevant government and non-government agencies. 

It also links with another measure Salceda filed in Congress, HB 4367 or the Philippine Space Act of 2016, which seeks to establish the country’s space development and utilization policy and create the Philippine Space Agency that will spearhead the program of space access, science and technology applications.

The Philippine Space Act of 2016, the Albay solon said, responds to the country’s growing need “for a secure and independent access to space” through the establishment of its own space policy and space agency. 

This program will also help “encourage Filipino scientists and technicians to come home and be among the local heroes that will build the country’s strong science and technology program,” Salceda explained.

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