TESDA execs elated over PNoy’s SONA

CEBU, Philippines - After President Benigno Aquino III made mention of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), TESDA officials expressed pride with the accomplishments cited by the President but preferred not to comment on the reported overpriced deals of the former director.  

TESDA Deputy Director General Atty. Teodoro Pascua said that the agency was pleased as TESDA was one of the first mentioned in the accomplishments of the Aquino administration and was inspired to do better year after year.

Aquino mentioned in his SONA that of the 503,521 scholars of the joint programs of TESDA and Department of Labor and Employment, an estimated six out of 10 have found jobs.

The previous studies conducted by the Department of Budget and Management, he added, showed that only 28.5 percent of TESDA graduates was hired from 2006 to 2008.

But under the agency’s program in information technology and business process outsourcing, 70.9 percent of the graduates found employment last year while 86 percent of its scholars who graduated under the electronics and semiconductor program was employed.

Pascua also expressed hope that the culture in TESDA which is grounded from the principle of “doing what we are preaching” should remain in the government agency even if there will be a change in the leadership whether it is the president or the top-ranking official of the agency.

“We are not resting our laurels and we are humbled to do more,” he said.

He added that TESDA is aggressively geared towards producing Filipino trainees who are technically-competent, innovative and creative.

To be globally-competitive, he said that the agency currently adopts to international training standards and be at par with other countries.

He further clarified that they do not intend to send all the Filipinos abroad but are actually aiming to prepare them to be potentially-qualified for the global market.

“If we don’t adopt to world standards, local and foreign companies will not move here or hire Filipinos as part of their workforce. We are going after the standards and we are not very far,” Pascua added.

He cited that the entire Asia has been eyeing the Philippines as the model hub for technical-vocational training.

The country has more than 22 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions that are certified by the Asia-Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission (APACC), an international accreditation agency for quality assurance and certification.

Pascua further noted that TESDA aims to raise the level of technical education in the country and encourage more Filipinos to consider taking up technical-vocational courses other than baccalaureate degree programs.

“TESDA would like to see more of the capacities of Filipinos recognized in the country and in the world. In the next years to come, you could expect our agency to train more Filipinos and introduce an increasing breed of world-class 21st century technically-competent workers,” he stated.

TESDA regional director Rosanna Urdaneta said that the agency will continue to promote and conduct responsive programs for the key employment generators such as construction, business process outsourcing and overseas employment.

She said that TESDA is the only government agency in the education sector in the country that is ISO-certified.

In collaboration with other government agencies in the country, the main thrust of TESDA is to facilitate trainings in accordance to the global standards to help produce middle-level competent Filipino manpower to fill in the jobs offered by many industries worldwide.

Meanwhile, Aquino cited in his SONA that the former leadership of TESDA Director General Augusto Syjuco has already been held accountable in the outrageous overpricing of purchases by the agency.

It was reported that an incubator jar that is originally priced at P149 was reported by Syjuco as priced at P15,375  while a dough cutter that normally costs P120 was priced by the director at P48,507.

Pascua, for his part, said that the issue should be now left for the justice system for due process.

He said that TESDA has already done its part to turn over the documents that existed to the Ombudsman for the filing of the cases which are currently in the Sandiganbayan for further evaluation if there has really been a law that is violated

“This issue is not up to TESDA anymore. There is a process to follow, allow the justice system to solve it,” he said during an interview with The FREEMAN.

Urdaneta, on the other hand, preferred to keep mum on the issue. —(FREEMAN)