THE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is pushing for the development of a strategic approach for workforce development in the country.
Interior Undersecretary Austere Panadero, who was the keynote speaker at the Industry Forum held at SMX Convention Center in Bacolod City Tuesday, August 29, said the market is changing thus there is a need to prepare the workforce.
He said human resource requirement today must be identified along with the emerging needs of the industry in the future.
“We need to match the plans with the needs,” Panadero said. “The markets have changed enough due to Asean integration and maybe one of these days if we are not strategic with our plans, we might have Asean workers in our midst.”
The one-day Training for Better Access to Job Opportunities (Trabajo) Industry Forum, organized by the DILG, was participated by program partners from the government and private sectors and the academe.
In Negros Occidental, the agency has identified the local government units (LGUs) of Bacolod, Talisay and Silay, and provincial government as program recipients.
Marissa Costelo, provincial focal person of Trabajo Program, said the DILG through this workforce development program targets to enhance the skills of 6,000 beneficiaries nationwide ready to have access to quality and sustainable job opportunities or community-based enterprises.
Costelo said the forum aims to gather local industry sectors like business process outsourcing (BPO) and present their workforce demand which the skills of the talent pool should be matched with.
“Industry matching will be the output of the forum. Meaning, whatever the sectors will present, our technical and vocational institutes will make a module providing beneficiaries the necessary trainings," she added.
Of the 6,000 beneficiaries nationwide, about 1,000 are targeted in Negros Occidental.
Qualified beneficiaries are given access to skills trainings, job facilitation services, and entrepreneurship support so they can earn and participate in the local economic development.
Priority job recipients are unemployed, out-of-school-youth, persons with disabilities, and those covered by the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), among others.
Costelo said they target to start enrolling beneficiaries in the province with various tech-voc institutions like Technical Education and Skills Authority and Negros Occidental Language Information Technology Center within the last quarter of the year.
One of the requirements for the beneficiaries is a National Certification II, she added.
Silay City Mayor Mark Golez, who attended the forum, said the program provides an avenue towards human development and primordial consideration to the best welfare of the people.
“To my fellow chief executives, let us consider ourselves fortunate to be given this opportunity to build resilient communities as well as empowering our people,” Golez added.
Mayor Neil Lizares thanked the DILG for including Talisay City in the program, which is aligned with the city’s thrust of providing skills and livelihood opportunities.
“This program is very timely as this will curb the incidence of unemployment in our locality,” Lizares said, adding that this will also ensure readily available and competent labor market.