By: Nino Aclan

SENATOR  Win Gatchalian and Senator Joel Villanueva jointly filed a bill that seeks to allow Filipinos with dual citizenship to join public higher education institutions (HEIs) as faculty, researchers, or administrators.

Senate Bill No. 2733 amends Section 5 (3) of Republic Act No. 9255 or the ‘Citizenship Retention and Re-Acquisition Act of 2003′ so that individuals who retain and re-acquire their Philippine citizenship can be appointed as researchers, faculty, or administrators of public HEIs without renouncing a previous oath of allegiance to another country.

Under Republic Act No. 9255, those who retain or re-acquire their Philippine citizenship can be appointed to public office, provided that they swear an oath of allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines and renounce a prior oath of allegiance to another country. While this opens opportunities, it still poses a restriction to those who want to serve as faculty, researchers, or administrators in HEIs in the country who still need to renounce the oath they took to another country.

Removing this restriction will create a pool of internationally competitive faculty members, Gatchalian said. The lawmaker added that it will help address issues on the global ranking of public HEIs and declining inbound faculty.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the QS World University Rankings use the international faculty ratio as one of the criteria for the assessment and ranking of universities. The weightage of international faculty, which excludes visiting professors, is equivalent to 2.5%. Appointing foreign faculty will help increase the enrollment of international students and improve the world rankings of public HEIs, Gatchalian pointed out.

“Sa gitna ng patuloy nating pagsulong ng internationalization sa sektor ng edukasyon, napapanahon nang buksan natin ang ating mga pampublikong kolehiyo at mga pamantasan sa mga kababayan nating may mga dual citizenship. Magiging oportunidad ito para madagdagan ang bilang ng mga gurong handang magbahagi ng kanilang kaalaman at karanasan mula sa ibang bansa,” said Gatchalian, Co-Chairperson of the Second Congressional Commission on Education and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education. 

Photo credit: Mark Cayabyab/OS WIN GATCHALIAN