Among the new lawyers in the list of 2023 Philippine Bar passers released by the Supreme Court is Atty. Jude Tacorda, the first to achieve the feat as a scholar of the provincial government under the Catanduanes Medicine and Law Scholarship Program (CMLSP).
Under the program institutionalized under Provincial Ordinance No. 010-2021 approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan on March 29, 2021, Tacorda was granted a maximum of P150,000 annually for tuition and other school fees, P20,000 per semester as book allowance, P3,000 per year as uniform allowance, P2,000 per month as transportation allowance plus an additional P4,000 per year for vacation break, P7,000 to P15,000 per month as lodging fees, P7,000 per month as living allowance, and one-month summer internship allowance to be served in the provincial government. Likewise, the government gave him P20,000 for his bar review fees.
Under Section 18 of the guidelines, a scholar shall render mandatory return service upon passing the licensure examination, for a period equivalent to one year for every scholarship year availed under the program.
In the event the scholar fails or refused to comply with the mandatory return services, he or she shall be required to pay in full cost or in staggered basis, the scholarship benefits and expenses equivalent to the current average tuition fees of medical and law schools.
No doubt, Atty. Tacorda will gladly render his mandatory return service, including 120 hours of pro bono legal aid services, with the provincial government, a small price to pay for attaining his dream of becoming a lawyer with the help of the LGU.
He will join three other lawyers already connected to the provincial government, including one of the 2023 bar passers.
Next year, the next batch of CMLSP scholar graduates will hopefully pass their board exams, with the new physicians to render their service after the required post-internship.
Expectedly, they will serve in any of the seven hospitals run by the provincial government, most especially the manpower-deficient Eastern Bicol Medical Center.
Since its conversion into a Local Economic Enterprise (LEE), the provincial hospital has endured a host of problems, from lack of cohesive leadership to health workers losing motivation to work due to delayed salaries and low level of compensation.
But in recent years, revenues at EBMC have started to climb after the administration of Governor Joseph Cua began adding more services such as a dialysis unit and a CT scan.
The 100-bed capacity hospital still needs to strengthen its nursing service and medical staff through the creation of more permanent positions and upgrading of compensation, which means funds will have to be made available to make sure those already serving EBMC would not seek greener pasture elsewhere.
One measure the Capitol leadership would do well to consider the extension of the CMLSP coverage to student nurses, so that once they graduate and pass the board, they can render mandatory service return at the EBMC.
Only students who belong to indigent parents could be included in the program, which can also limit the expense to be shouldered to certain identified costs that the family would not be able to provide.
This way, the EBMC as well as the six district hospitals, would be assured of the availability of nurses even if for a limited time only, while the provincial government improves hospital services to attract more clients.