Only 32,000 artist record books processed – Tesda

Director General Dante Liban of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) clarified yesterday the figures appearing in news reports about the number of Artist Record Books (ARBs) issued by his office.

Liban said of the 55,000 ARBs he signed and released to their respective talent-owners during the last eight months he was in office, only 23,000 were processed and approved under his watch.

"The 32,000 old ARB applications form the backlog of applicants who were tested and approved during the time of Tesda directors general Edicio de la Torre and Lucila Lazo, by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and those affected by the court’s temporary restraining order issued in connection with a court case filed by talent promoter Willie Espiritu in Quezon City," said Liban.

The ARB is passport-like document attesting to the skills of a talent in singing or production show and required by the Japanese embassy before issuing a visa to entertainers.

Liban said because of the stringent procedures that form part of the reforms he instituted in connection with the testing of talents and approval or processing of ARBs, the applicants’ passing average was reduced to 55 percent from a high of 90 percent during the time of Directors General Lazo and Edicio de la Torre.

Of the 55,000 ARBs released, therefore, only 41.8 percent (23,000) were processed and approved during the time of Director General Liban, with the rest (32,000 or 58.2 percent) approved by his prodecessors.

Liban stressed that it was "ministerial" on his part to sign the ARBs that form part of the backlog carried over when the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) was till in charge of the ARB system.

"I still maintain that the processing of Overseas Performing Artists’ applications for ARBs does not belong to Tesda. It is not one of the 15 priority areas which the Tesda is mandated to do," said Liban. He proposed that the function should be reverted back to the POEA, or given to other government agencies such as the National Commission on Culture and the Arts, or to a private group.