The year 2004 saw the name JITSE Philippines changed to PhilNITS, after Akol proposed it to JITEC where the idea was warmly welcomed. 'I had a few difficulties promoting the exam because there was a common misconception that taking the JITSE (being based on Japanese standards) would only qualify you for a job in Japan,' she said. With that, Akol also changed the name of the exam from ITEE to IT Professionals' Examination because she observed that in the Philippines, unlike in Japan, IT Engineers are strictly those who graduate in engineering courses and is not used to refer to the rest of the IT professionals.

Aside from agreeing on the mutual recognition of each member's certificate, the council also finalized and agreed on the following: common exam dates, common ITEE standards, common targets of 10,000 examinees in three years, and sharing of databases of questions. The council agreed to hold the exams on both the first Sundays of April and October, effective April 2006. While the questions for the April exams will still come from JITEC, Akol said that the council is also working on training qualified members for the board of examiners from each affiliate country, who will then meet in Japan and decide on the questions to give during the October exam. 'Each member will give ten questions which the Board of Examiners will choose from,' said the PhilNITS president.

With this, PhilNITS also has the goal of coming up with its very own database of questions someday. 'Who knows, eventually we may not have to depend on Japan, they may even depend on us (for exam questions),' said Akol.

Part of PhilNITS and the IPEC's goal is also to form a formal board of examiners for each country out of a pool of certified professionals who would, with the guidance of JITEC, design the process flow and procedure for exam-making. Akol said that she is hoping to have around 15 to 20 members in PhilNITS' board of examiners, which would come from the industry, the academe, and the government. In a recent meeting with CICT Commissioner Virgilio Pe'a, Akol sought the help of Pe'a and requested that the CICT nominate at least two CICT people for the Board, to which the Commissioner readily agreed.

Akol also disclosed plans to form the PhilNITS society, which would be composed of all the JITSE/PhilNITS certified professionals. The PhilNITS president said that since they now have 225 passers, they now have the critical mass to form the society. This would mutually benefit the professionals and PhilNITS, she said, because joining would be good for the professional development of the 225 passers and, in turn, they could also help PhilNITS in training people nationwide. 'Also, since some of them work in good companies already, they can recommend or inform the society members when there are job openings,' Akol added.