Mining firm ties up with TESDA

Australasian Philippines Mining Inc. (APMI) has tied up with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in a masonry-carpentry skills training that will draw ons Dingasan workforce’s potential to aid in Quirino province’s increased construction activity.

Recognizing the role of skilled workers in construction, APMI is sending 25 Dingasan residents to the training to be funded under the company’s Social Development Management Program (SDMP).

Trainees should learn how to make hollow blocks, RC pipes, and box culvert (drain, septic tank) and will have a hands-on-training through the construction of Dingasan Barangay Office.

Implemented under the Alternative Learning System (ALS) of the Department of Education, the masonry-carpentry program is intensive and subjects trainees to trade test prior to receiving ID card from TESDA as proof of proficiency.

APMI has also adopted the Department of Labor and Employment’s Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) which employs students as part of helping them defray educational expenses.

Students are paid P150 per day, 60 percent of which is paid by the company and 40 percent by DOLE. Its SPES employs 100 students: 62 in Didipio, 20 in Dingasan, 10 in Tucod, and eight in KNAS-Kasibu.

These programs are timely as APMI itself started constructing its new office and building the model house for its relocation program.

Likewise to be carried out this year are small infrastructure projects including the improvement of an irrigation system, two potable spring water distributions, a multi-purpose pavement, a hanging bridge, and concreting of a high school.

APMI has a continuing community development program which in the past included trainings on automotive, welding, and electricity, livestock production, high value crop production, organic farming entrepreneurship, and other livelihood programs for residents of its mining site in Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya. These trainings will enable residents to have complementary livelihood sources even during company’s operation.

One livestock program trained 16 youths from Dingasan and Didipio on raising goats, pigs and chicken. The students also had educational trips to the livestock farms of Central Luzon State University (CLSU) and the world-class hog breeding center of John Johns Farm in Binangonan, Rizal.

On education, APMI supports salary provision for teachers in Didipio Elementary School, Didipio Daycare Centers, Dingasan Integrated School, Dibibi Integrated School and its education flagship project, Didipio Green Valley Institute (DGVI), owned and run by the community.