From CPE to CPD: PRBRES Establishes CPD Council for Real Estate; Accredits Providers and Programs
In pursuit of PRC Resolution 2013-774, whereby all professional regulatory boards are mandated to create their respective CPD Councils, the Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service (PRBRES) announced the constitution of its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) last March 12, 2013, during the oath taking of the members of the Council. Its main purpose is to assist in the implementation of the CPD Programs, and registration of CPD providers, and provide guidelines on the requirements and application of real estate practitioners, subject to the approval of the Commission. Under Resolution 2014-21, PRBRES also informed the public that, since the CPD Council's takeover on all duties related to the renewal of the broker, appraiser and consultant's Professional Identification Cards (PICs) last March, it has already approved 22 CPE Providers, CES Academy included. It is also currently reviewing four (4) applications of CPE providers, and evaluating seventeen (17) CPE programs.
The most important section of the resolution, reads:
"...In order not to prejudice the real estate service professionals who have already renewed their PICs and those who are about to renew but have already undertaken the required CPE, the CPD Council of Real Estate Service, in an en banc meeting held last January 15, 2014, has decided to recommend to the Board the accreditation of all CPE providers and programs in real estate service offered up to December 2013 only; Provided, that these CPE providers and their programs shall register with the CPD Council of Real Estate Service, through the Standards and Inspection Division;"
Our PERSONAL interpretation: All bearers of CPE/CPD certificates from on or before 2013 may still be used for the renewal of licenses, PROVIDED, that these seminars where the credit units/hours were earned, would be submitted to the Standards and Inspection Division for registration, such that, this will be the mode of verification of the CPD Council that, indeed, such seminar materialized.
Further interpretation: If the certificate released and presented would not come from a "registered and verified" seminar by the Standards and Inspection Division, then the Registration Division would not credit them as CPD units for the practitioner's license renewal.
In short, the responsibility to accredit and register all PAST seminars is with the CPD Providers.
For the confidence of our students, do know that, since PRBRES' administration of real estate practice in 2011 until present, CES Academy has submitted and applied for ACCREDITATION of each and every seminar/program, which include: letter of intent bearing the dates, venue and time,
Course Outline with breakdown of units/hours, CV of lecturer, and company permits and licenses. Moreover, we have submitted their respective REPORTORIAL REQUIREMENTS, which include: a complete list of the names of the attendees, notarized affidavit on the number of attendees included in the seminar, a copy of the actual attendance sheets with signatures, and supporting photos as evidence of the seminar's conduct. We also make sure that both accreditation and reports were received by PRBRES, for future reference.Nevertheless, following the above announcement, we are once again resubmitting all filed applications and reports, in accordance to the requirements of CPD Council.
Our thoughts: his resolution did not seem to answer the more important concerns of a renewing real estate practitioner, some are as follows:
- How many hours/units can I take per year? How many hours/units can I take per day?
- If it is true that you should take maximum 20 hours/units per year,
- If I already have 60 hours/units from a single year before December 31, 2013, can it be used for my renewal?
- Since there is no resolution announcing the guidelines for the CPD hours/units, and I need to renew NOW, what should I do? Can I submit 60-hours straight of CPD?
- I have three professional licenses under the real estate board - should I take 60 hours/units PER LICENSE? Can I take one set of 60 CPD hours/units for all three licenses?
- I am a new applicant for a salesperson accreditation - what type of CPD should I take? Is it true that I can use a CRES certificate for my initial registration?
- Should assessors renew too? What are the requirements and procedure for their renewal?
- Is the membership under PHILRES a legitimate requirement already for the license renewal?
Most of the questions above will be answered once the much-awaited protocol guidelines for CPDs and License Renewal is already released. Meantime, here is a memorandum posted at the Registration Division of PRC regarding the REQUIREMENTS for the License Renewal of Real Estate Practitioners:
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| Requirements: 1) Notarized CPD Certificate, 2) Surety Bond, 3) Certificate of Membership in Good Standing from PHILRES |
