Bersamin denies resignation rumors

MANILA – Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin has denied rumors that he had resigned from the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

“It is fake news and part of black propaganda,” he said in a message to reporters.

The Presidential Communications Office also denied ersa in s supposed resignation.

Bersamin was appointed Executive Secretary in September last year after the resignation of his predecessor, Victor Rodriguez.

As an Executive Secretary, he is referred to as the “Little President” who is mandated to “directly assist the President in the anage ent of affairs of the government, as well as to direct the operations of the xecutive ce, according to the cial a ette. Before being appointed Executive Secretary, Bersamin served as chairperson of the overn ent ervice nsurance yste under the leadership of arcos predecessor, for er president Rodrigo Duterte. e was na ed the country s top agistrate in November 2018 and retired from the judiciary in October 2019.

House wants multi-sectoral approach vs. job-skills mismatch

MANILA – A measure seeking to address the problem of unemployment, underemployment and job-skills mismatch in the country through the creation of a ulti-sectoral council inched closer to final approval after the House of Representatives passed the bill on second reading on Wednesday.

During the plenary session, the chamber passed through voice voting House Bill 7370, which will create a Tripartite Council composed of representatives from the government, academe and industry sector that will formulate and i ple ent policies and relevant progra s specific to obskills mismatch.

aguio City ep. ark o, chair of the ouse Comittee on Higher and Technical Education, said the creation of the council will allow educational institutions to better understand the labor market, help them identify where the jobs are, and what skills and competencies are required to fill these vacancies.

“It would focus not only in ensuring that graduates were able to land jobs, but more so on whether they were able to truly utilize their particular set of skills and competencies,” o said. t would help the country identify the specific industry needs in terms of manpower requirements, and develop policies that would direct the youth towards these fields of study and profession.

He said there must be established open and continuous communication lines between learning institutions and the business sector in order to sustain a “mutually edifying symbiotic relationship” between them.

“The synergy created would hopefully yield updated curricula, development of standards and industry practices, and increased productivity among others,” he said.

The tripartite council, according to the bill, shall be attached to the Co ission on igher ducation C for administrative and budgetary purposes.

For the government sector, representatives shall be composed of the CHED Commissioner, Deputy Director eneral of the Technical ducation and kills evelopment Authority, and undersecretaries of the Department of Education, Department of Labor and Employment and Department of Trade and Industry.

The academe sector representatives shall be composed of the presidents of the federations of public and private higher education institutions s , public and private technical vocational institutions T s , and accreditation bodies of HEIs and TVIs.

Meanwhile, the industry sector shall be represented by the presidents of business and industry federations.

Under the measure, the tripartite council shall conduct an inventory, review and evaluation of courses, academic programs and curricula of public and private HEIs, as well as the training programs in TVI.

The council shall also conduct an assessment of the ualifications, skills, and co petencies of students and graduates of higher education courses and technical-vocational education and training and inventory of ob specifications and skills re uire ent of various industries.

native of bra, ersa in finished his law degree at the University of the East in 1973 and placed ninth in the bar examinations in the same year.

He served as presiding judge of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 96 in 1986.

In 2003, he was appointed associate justice at the Court of Appeals and was promoted to the Supreme Court in 2009