, 
FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
SENATE 
s. No.IOOO 
) 
) 
) 
Introduced by Senator Manuel "Lito" M. Lapid 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Section 12, Article XII of the 1987 provides that "The State shall establish and 
maintain an effective food and drug regulatory system and undertake appropriate health 
manpower development and research, responsive to the country's health needs and 
problems." 
The country currently faces a looming cnsls in health services due to the 
unabated migration of health and medical professionals lured by higher salaries, better 
working conditions and more opportunities for professional growth in foreign countries. 
The Philippines now holds the dubious distinction of being the top exporter of nurses. 
Doctors are also leaving the country in droves. Of late, many doctors have even opted 
to go back to school to become certified nurses just to get out of the country to work 
elsewhere. 
Reports are rife that hospitals in rural areas in Visayas and Mindanao face 
imminent closure because of the lack of doctors and nurses. Even prestigious medical 
institutions find it difficult to attract .fresh graduates to fill up slots for doctors. The 
government has acknowledged the reality that, indeed, the country is facing an alarming 
shortage of medical doctors and other medical professionals. 
Since medical doctors constitute the core of a country's public health service 
system, the shortage of doctors severely prejudices the capacity of government to 
deliver timely, adequate, competent and affordable medical and health care services to 
our people, especially the poor who direly need such services but can hardly afford 
them, and whose only access to such services is through the public health service 
system. 
Thus, there is an urgent need to create a steadily expanding pool of medical 
doctors to strengthen and expand the core of the public health service system through 
institutional mechanisms and programs that will not only enable a greater number of 
qualified and public-service oriented young people to pursue medical education but also 
systematically and effectively ensure their integration into the public health service 
system in such manner that would harness their talents within an optimum period of 
time for tile. benefit of our country and people. 
This bill seeks to address that need by creating a Philippine Medical Academy 
and establishing a Philippine Medical Scholarship and Service Program. The Academy 
shall provide the institutional mechanism for the envisioned sustained human resource 
development for the Philippine public health care system and the scholarship program 
shall provide the financial and other educative resource support mechanisms for the 
pursuit of studies in the field of medicine of deserving and qualified young people. The 


University of the Philippines (UP), through its College of Medicine, . shall serve as the 
institutional core or principal medical educational institution within which grantees or 
scholars of the program shall pursue their medical training and studies. 
The government shall provide the physical, technical and financial resources to 
provide equipment, manpower and develop the U.P. College of Medicine as the 
institutional core of the Philippine Medical Academy. It shall also provide funds to pay 
for all the necessary expenses such as tuition, matriculation and all other school fees, 
prescribed textbooks and other educational supplies and equipments, board and 
lodging expenses, clothing and uniform allowances, traveling expenses and other 
related miscellaneous living allowances of qualified entrants to the Philippine Medical 
Academy and reCipients of the scholarship program. 
It is envisioned that upon passing the medical board examination, a scholar shall 
spend his/her post-graduate internship in a public health institution to commence his/her 
integration into the public health service system and shall accordingly be given the 
appropriate rank and salary. Such integration into the public service system shall be 
mandatory for a period equivalent to at least two (2) years for each year of scholarship 
benefits received. 
The Academy and the Scholarship program shall be administered by a Board 
empowered to formulate and implement policies, rules and regulations, and all such 
other activities for the effective Management and Development of the Academy and the 
Scholarship program. 
In view of the foregoing, early passage of this bill is earnestly sought. ..--........ 
MAZ~~" 
M. LAPID 
Senator 


FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
SENATE 
s. No.l000 
) 
) 
) 
Introduced by Senator Manuel "Lito" M. Lapid 
. AN ACT 
", "'10 
, 
J 
CREATING THE PHILIPPINE MEDICAL ACADEMY AND ESTABLISHING 
THE PHILIPPINE MEDICAL SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM, APPROPRIATING 
FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSE 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines 
in Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. 
Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Philippine 
Medical Academy and Scholarship Act of 2010". 
SEC. 2. 
Declaration of Policy. - It is the policy of the State to undertake 
health manpower development responsive to the country's health service needs. 
Towards this end, the State shall establish mechanisms inclusive of creating 
educative institutions and scholarship programs to enable deserving and qualified 
individuals to pursue education and training in the field of medicine, and shall formulate 
and implement such policies and programs to systematically integrate these individuals, 
upon qualifying as doctors of medicine, into the public heath care system of the country. 
SEC. 3. 
The Philippine Medical Academy. - There shall be created a 
Philippine Medical Academy which. shall be the primary educational institutional 
mechanism for the sustained human resource development for the Philippine Public 
Health Care System. The government, on its own and, when feasible, in partnership 
with other lawful entities in the public and private sectors, shall provide and undertake 
measures to generate the necessary financial, technical, physical and other resources 
needed to efficiently and effectively man, equip, manage and develop the U.P. College 
of Medicine as the institutional Core of the Philippine Medical Academy. Upon fulfillment 
of prescribed conditions as may be required by the Philippine Medical Academy and 
Philippine Medical Academy Scholarship Board (PMASB), other colleges of medicine 
may be accredited and integrated, into the Philippine Medical Academy as adjunct 
1 


educative institutions that will provide training and education in the field of medicine to 
qualified entrants to the Philippine Medical Academy. 
SEC. 4. 
Medical Scholarship. - There shall be an annual selection, 
through appropriate examinations and screening processes, from among qualified 
graduating students of appropriate courses in colleges and universities nationwide, 
those who shall be admitted to the Philippine Medical Academy to be known as Medical 
Academy Scholars and who shall be granted scholarship in medicine that shall cover 
expenses for, among others, tuition, matriculation and other school fees; prescribed 
textbooks, supplies and equipment; board and lodging expenses; clothing and uniform 
allowances; traveling expenses and other related miscellaneous living allowances: 
Provided, That at least five (5) candidates per region, or when practicable, one (1) 
candidate from every province and city shall be chosen to partiCipate in the annual 
selection; Provided further, That at least fifty (50) candidates shall be selected as 
"medical academy scholars" annually. 
SEC. 5. 
Qualifications of Candidates. - Candidates for admission into the 
Philippine Medical Academy and for medical scholarship grants shall possess the 
following minimum qualifications: 
a) 
Must belong to the top thirty per centum (30%) of their respective 
graduating classes and must be completing undergraduate courses identified by the 
PMASB as a prerequisite. course to the pursuit of studies in the field of medicine; 
b) 
Family and or personal incomes are not sufficient to finance their 
education in the field of medicine; 
c) 
Must be in good health and of good moral character; and 
d) 
Must be not more than twenty-five (25) years of age and a natural born 
citizen of the Philippines. 
SEC. 6. 
General Conditions for Admission to the Philippine Medical 
Academy and for the Scholarship ·Grant. - A medical Academy scholar shall receive 
and continue to enjoy the benefits of the scholarship until he/she completes his/her 
course, subject to the following conditions: 
a) 
He/she shall pass the entrance/admission examinations and related 
requirements of the College of Medicine of the University of the Philippines; 
b) 
He/she shall enroll in the University of the Philippines College of Medicine 
and carry the full load of subjects prescribed per semester by the said medical school, 
and shall, under no circumstance, drop a course which will result in under-loading; and 
2 


c) 
He/she shall be allowed, for valid reasons preventing his/her enrolment, to 
defer availing of the scholarship and/or to file a leave of absence for a period equivalent 
to and/ or not exceeding one school year. 
d) 
He/she shall sign an agreement stating the terms and conditions of the 
scholarship on a form prescribed by the Philippine Medical Academy Scholarship 
Board; 
e) 
He/she shall repay the full amount of scholarship funds and benefits 
received and spent for his/her benefit and the scholarship shall be terminated in the 
event the grantee accepts another scholarship from other government or private 
agencies or entities; and 
f) 
He/she shall also repay the full amount of scholarship funds and benefits 
received and spent for his/her benefit in case of failure to complete the medical course 
without valid cause: Provided, That if such failure is due to academic failings, physical 
and mental disabilities and incapacities, and such other reasonable causes, and he/she 
pursues and completes another course to qualify him/her as a medical service 
practitioner, he/she may choose, instead of repayment of scholarship benefits, to render 
services and be integrated into the public health service system for a period equivalent 
to two (2) years of service for every year of scholarship availed. 
SEC. 7. 
Medical Service Program. - The scholar shall, pursuant to the 
agreement provided in Section 6 hereof, render services and be integrated into the 
public health service system as medical doctor, with the appropriate rank and salary 
upon his/her passing of the medical board examination: Provided, That such service 
and integration in the public health service system shall be mandatory for a period 
equivalent to at least two (2) years per year of scholarship availed and within which 
period, the scholar is granted periodic promotion and advancement in rank and salary 
grade at least one rank higher at least every three years in the service: Provided, 
further, That he/she shall undertake post graduate internship in a public health or 
medical institution and such internship shall be part of the mandatory service and 
integration into the public health service system. 
SEC. 8. 
Philippine Medical Academy Scholarship Board (PMASB). -
There is hereby created a Philippine Medical Academy and Scholarship Board 
(PMASB) which shall administer the Philippine Medical Academy and the Scholarship 
and Service Program and shall be empowered to formulate, consolidate, integrate, 
systematize and implement all poliCies, rules and regulations and programs related 
thereto and intended to enhance the effectiveness thereof. 
3 


The PMASB shall be composed of the Chairperson of the Commission on Higher 
Education (CHED), the Secretary of Department of Education (DepEd), the Secretary of 
Department of Health (DOH), the Secretary of the Department of Budget and 
Management (DBM), the President of the University Of the Philippine System, the Dean 
of the College of Medicine of the University of the Philippines and the Chairpersons of 
the Committees on Health and Higher Education of the House of Representatives and 
the Senate. 
The members of the PMASB shall be entitled to reasonable amounts of per 
diems, representation, travel and transportation allowances. 
The Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) shall be the 
Chairman of the Board. 
SEC. 9. 
Functions of the Board. - The PMASB shall have the following 
functions: 
a) 
Determine, formulate and promulgate the appropriate policies, measures, 
rules and regulations necessary to operate, manage, maintain, and enhance the 
effectiveness of the PMA and the scholarship and services programs integral to its 
operations; 
b) 
Establish cooperative and coordinative linkages with other educational 
and related institutions in the public and private sectors to ensure the effective 
operation, management and development of the PMA and the scholarship and services 
programs; 
c) 
Prescribe such tests, standards and/or criteria for the selection of medical 
scholars; and the relevant and appropriate terms a and conditions governing the 
availment of scholarship grants and the integration of qualified medical scholars into the 
public health service system; 
d) 
Determine the various expenses to be covered by the scholarship, and 
approve the timely payment thereof to medical scholars from such sums appropriated 
by law and such other funds available for the purpose; 
e) 
Approve the staffing pattern and salary and/or compensation of officers 
and personnel of the Secretariat; 
f) 
Conduct regular meetings at least twice a month, or upon the call of the 
Chairman of the Board; and 
g) 
Perform such other duties and functions as hereinafter be assigned to it by 
the President of the Philippines. 
SEC. 10. 
Secretariat. - There shall be a Secretariat to provide administrative 
and technical assistance to the PMASB. It shall be headed by an Executive Director, 
4 


and its staff shall be recruited preferably from qualified professionals from the academe 
and medical profession. 
SEC. 11. 
Appropriation. - The sum of Fifty Million (Php50,000,000) pesos is 
hereby authorized to be appropriated to constitute the initial PMSSP Fund. Thereafter, 
such additional sums as may be necessary shall be included in the annual General 
Appropriations Act. 
SEC. 12. 
Donations and Grants. • The Board may accept donations, 
legacies, grants, and other contributions to form part of the Medical Scholarship Fund: 
Provided, That such donations, legacies, grants, and other contributions shall be 
exempt from taxation and shall be allowable deductions for income tax purposes. 
Proceeds from at least two (2) draws of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes per year 
shall also be allocated to finance the PMA, and the Scholarship and Services Programs. 
SEC. 13. 
Implementing Rules and Regulations (lRR). - The Chairman of 
the Commission on Higher Education in coordination with the Secretary of Education, 
the President of the University of the Philippine System and the Chairpersons of the 
Committees on Health and Education of the House of Representatives and the Senate 
shall issue such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the effective 
implementation of this Act within sixty (60) days from the Effectivity thereof. 
SEC. 14. 
Repealing Clause. - All Laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and 
regulations or parts thereof not consistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby 
repealed or modified accordingly. 
SEC. 15. 
Separability Clause . . If any provision or part of this Act, or the 
application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held unconstitutional or invalid, the 
remainder of this Act shall not be affected thereby. 
SEC. 16. 
Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days 
from the date of its complete publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) 
newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved, 
5