TARLAC CITY -- The Provincial Government of Tarlac was once again awarded as the 2019 National Kabalikat awardee by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) recently.

The Kabalikat award, which coincides with the 25th anniversary of Tesda, is given to the institution’s most active and outstanding partners who have contributed in developing and enhancing technical education and skills development.

Governor Susan Yap personally received the trophy and the plaque of recognition from Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles and TESDA Director General Isidro Lapeña. It was the province’s fourth time to net the national award: first in 2015 and the others in 2017 and 2018.

Yap thanked Tesda for the recognition and said the provincial government vowed to continue providing employment through trainings of Tarlaqueños.

“Through our PGT Skills Training and Assessment Center we will continue to provide much needed trainings to our kababayans to better equip them for employment,” the governor said.

Mara Reyes, head of the Training and Placement Network Office (TPNO) thanked Yap for her genuine support to the programs and projects of TPNO and said that the province will continue to secure accreditation of the province’s different training programs from TESDA.

The Provincial Government has invested more than P138 million worth of land equipment and facilities to Tesda for the last 16 years of their partnership.

Since 2016, a total of 28,923 Tarlaqueños were trained in various technical vocational courses of which, 22,322 were employed. (Ric Sapnu)