Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office III Regional Director Gemma B. Gabuya led the FO III family in congratulating the successful examinees of the July 2017 Social Workers Licensure Examination during the Monday flag raising ceremony, August 7, 2017.

Seventy three or 70.19% of the 104 examinees, who are already working in the field office in different positions, passed the said examination. Examinees answered questionnaires on Human Behavior and Social Environment (20%), Social Welfare Policies, Programs, and Services (20%), Social Work Practice {Part I, Part II, Part III} 30%, and Field Instructions (30%).

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) together with the Professional Regulatory Board of Social Workers administered the examination on July 27-28, 2017 in selected testing centers in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Lucena, Pagadian, Tacloban, Tuguegarao, and Zamboanga.

Examinees answered questionnaires on Human Behavior and Social Environment (20%), Social Welfare Policies, Programs, and Services (20%), Social Work Practice {Part I, Part II, Part III} 30%, and Field Instructions (30%).

As defined by Republic Act No. 5175, “social work is the profession which is primarily concerned with organized social service activity, aimed to facilitate and strengthen basic social relationships and the mutual adjustment between individuals and their social environment for the good of the individual and of society by the use of social work methods.”

As such, social work is the professional activity of helping individuals, groups, or communities enhance or restore their capacity for social functioning and creating societal conditions favorable to this goal. To become a social worker, one has to go to college and take up Bachelor of Science in Social Work (BSSW).

Director Gabuya also lauded Ms. Lalaine de Leon, OIC-Chief of the Policy and Plans Division for passing the CES-Written Examination (CES-WE), formerly called the Management Aptitude Test Battery (MATB). The CES-We is the first of the four-stage CES Eligibility Examination Process. It is a paper-and-pencil type of test that determines the applicant’s general intelligence and knowledge of management concepts and principles.

The Career Executive Service Board is the governing body of the Career Executive Service. The CESB is mandated to promulgate rules, standards and procedures on the selection, classification, compensation and career development of members of the CES.

Director Gabuya also encouraged the newly registered social workers, who are mostly Municipal Links, to continue to work ‘nang may malasakit’. ### (Evelyn T. Manalo)