Tolentino files bill requiring professionals to render civil service during calamities

Senator Francis Tolentino has filed a bill seeking to require professionals such as doctors, nurses, and engineers to render civil service during disasters and calamities.

Senate Bill No. 1129, the proposed Civil Conscription Act, seeks to give the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) the power to mandate structural engineers and licensed medical personnel to help in humanitarian and rehabilitation efforts in times of calamities.

“To enable communities to quickly respond to such calamities, this humble representation hereby proposes that a ready and able body of professionals be equipped to be called upon to render aid in emergency situations,” Tolentino said in his privilege speech Tuesday afternoon.

“We must go beyond the ‘duck, cover and hold’ stage. We should not just focus on the immediate rescue operations but give priority to the rehabilitation stage following a calamity,” he added.

Under the bill which Tolentino filed on Tuesday, the AFP, through its Technical and Administrative Service unit, may call upon engineers and licensed medical personnel, through a system of recruitment, to render mandatory civil service

for a limited period of time.

The bill did not state sanctions for those who will not heed the AFP’s summon.

It mandates the Defense Secretary, in consultation with the AFP and the Professional Regulation Commission, to promulgate the implementing rules and regulations of the measure if it is signed into law.

Tolentino, in his speech, urged his colleagues in the Senate to prioritize the bills that would improve the country’s preparedness for disasters, as well as rehabilitation efforts.