The Philippine College of Occupational Medicine (PCOM) rejoices in the declaration of the 3rd week of March of every year as

Occupational Medicine (OM) Week by virtue of Proclamation 1316. We are one of the few, if not the only country, which has a

national declaration for Occupational Medicine week, and only the 2nd medical organization in the country, after the Philippine

Medical Association (PMA), to have a law in support of its medicine week.

The issuance of Proclamation 1316 truly is a milestone in Philippine history as it paves the way for stronger awareness of 

Occupational Medicine among Filipino workers and employers as well as the general public. Consequently, we envision a future

 where this awareness will inevitably lead to the development of programs and activities geared for the protection, well-being and 

safety ofworkers and the prevention of diseases and accidents in the workplace.

Indeed, the OM week declaration is something that every PCOM member can be proud of. After all, it was PCOM that initiated,

lobbied for, and took strides to make this happen. PCOM even drafted the initial version of the proclamation which became the

basis for the final version. Even though the released version of the proclamation does not specifically mention the name of the

College, it is certain that the heart and soul of Proclamation 1316 is of the Philippine College of Occupational Medicine. In fact, the

very reason why the 3rd week of March was chosen for the OM week celebration is because it is also during this same week that

PCOM has always held its Annual National Conventions.

However, the road to achieving this milestone was not without hardship. It was a painstaking process that was four years in the

making. It all began during the last term of PCOM Past National President Dr. Edmyr M. Macabulos for FY 2018-2019. The first attempt was through a letter of request addressed to then Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello, III which was submitted to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) office in Intramuros on September 27, 2018. A few months later, we were asked by DOLE to resubmit our letter, but this time with a more in-depth background of PCOM and the rationale for declaring an OM week. This 2nd letter was submitted on February 26, 2019, along with our draft of a Labor Advisory “DECLARING THE 3RD WEEK OF MARCH AS OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE WEEK AND AUTHORIZING THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER AND THE PHILIPPINE COLLEGE OF OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE, INC. (PCOM) TO TAKE CHARGE OF THE OBSERVANCE THEREOF”

Upon receipt of our 2nd letter, then Labor Secretary Bello referred our request to the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC)

through a Memorandum dated March 1, 2019 and addressed to its Chairman at the time, Atty. Teofilo Pilando Jr. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic came into the picture which understandably, left our request unattended and possibly forgotten. By April 1, 2019 the task of lobbying for the OM week had now been passed on to the new set of PCOM Officers and BOD under the leadership of PCOM Past National President for FY 2019-2022, Dr. Phil M. Pangilinan. The continuous follow-up for almost a year, ended with a bittersweet letter response from PRC on February 17, 2020. In this letter, PRC through its Board of Medicine extended its full support in proclaiming the annual celebration of OM week. However, it also stated that the power to issue a proclamation is not lodged before the PRC Board of Medicine … thus ended our first attempt.

The task of pushing for the OM week was revived during the Stakeholders Forum on the Medical Act of 1959 in which Dr. Phil Pangilinan and then National Secretary Dr. Anna Sofia Victoria Fajardo serendipitously met with then PMA President Dr. Jose P. Santiago and PMA/PCOM Past National President Dr. Oscar Tinio who advised them to direct PCOM’s letter of request to Malacañang through PMA. Heeding this advice, we immediately began our 2nd attempt at getting the OM Week declaration by sending a letter to PMA on February 28, 2020 which then forwarded our request to Malacañang on March 9, 2020. It took another year of relentless follow-up to finally get an official response from Malacañang on March 1, 2021 through the assistance of then Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles.

For the process to proceed, the following needed to be done: 1) submit pertinent documents and information, including the

latest statistics of the cases of occupational accidents, injuries and diseases in the Philippines, 2) write a draft of the proposed

Proclamation, and 3) secure the concurrence of concerned agencies. We were able to quickly submit the draft of the Proclamation, but it took another year of follow-ups and lobbying to get the requisite data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) as well as securing the endorsement from all the concerned agencies including the Department of Health and DOLE-Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC).

Finally, after 4 years of the PCOM officers and BOD exhausting time and effort, and by the grace of God, victory was earned!

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed and issued Proclamation 1316 on March 2, 2022 and PCOM received the official copy of the

proclamation on March 9, 2022. It may have come during the term of Dr. Pangilinan, but it took the concerted effort of all the BOD

spanning the terms of 2 presidents, Drs. Macabulos and Pangilinan, in collaboration with PCOM past president Dr. Tinio, and even

helped by PCOM members who were tapped because of their linkages with concerned government agencies. As a fitting end to

this long running saga, a Fun Run was held at Perpetual Help Biñan, Laguna on March 13, 2022 to kick-off the soft launching of the

OM week celebration. This was followed by the Grand Launching of the OM week, held at the Manila Hotel on March 22, 2022 during the 43rd PCOM Annual National Convention. This momentous event was made more special by the presence of PCOM Chapter presidents from all over the Philippines and dignitaries from various private and public stakeholders including PMA, PAFP, DOLE-OSHC. The rest, as they say, is history…