DHSUD, TESDA team up to meet high demand for skilled workers

MANILA -- Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary

Jose Rizalino Acuzar on Thursday announced his plan to partner with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in anticipation of high demand for skilled construction workers once the Pambansang Pabahay program goes full blast.

“Isa po sa nakikita naming problema sa ngayon ang kakulangan sa manggagawa kapag nag-full blast na ang ating construction (One of the problems we notice at present is the lack of enough workers when our construction goes full blast). We have a problem with availability of skilled workers,” Acuzar said.

Acuzar said the problem must be addressed while there is still time.

He said the full implementation of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s "Pambansang Pabahay" program is expected to generate nearly 2 million jobs among Filipino skilled workers and laborers.

Acuzar earlier said about

1.7 million jobs -- especially construction workers -- per year would be generated once the Pambansang Pabahay commences its groundwork.

“Significant number of jobs would be created and the situation is seen to contribute in the administration’s post-pandemic recovery efforts and in furtherance of the 8-point economic agenda of the Marcos administration,” he said.

As of Feb. 15, DHSUD has broken ground for 17 housing projects with various local government units and signed 70 memorandums of understanding under the Pambansang Pabahay.

He said he initiated talks with TESDA Director General Danilo Cruz as early as October last year as part of a proactive measure to prepare construction workers for the workforce requirements in housing project development.

“Nakikipag-ugnayan na po kami sa TESDA para sa training… ng mga skilled workers -- karpentero, plumber, electrician at para sa finishing touches ng mga mason.

Kaya kami po ay nakikipag-usap sa TESDA para magkaroon ng training para sa kanila (We’ve been coordinating already with the TESDA for the training…of the skilled workers -- carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and of the mason for the finishing touches,” he said.

Acuzar said TESDA has supported the department’s effort to augment the housing and construction industries’ present workforce as well as improve the workers’ skills.

“Right now, we are looking at all angles and aspects to prepare for the beginning of the actual implementation of the Pambansang Pabahay on the ground. We are fasttracking construction so that we can adjust to the projected increase in cost. We need enough workers to ensure that we build and provide the houses on time for our kababayans,” Acuzar said.

DBM releases P3.4-B fund for scholars in tech-voc institutions

Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary

Amenah F. Pangandaman approved Wednesday a Special Allotment

Release Order (SARO) amounting to PHP3.41 billion to the Department of Labor and Employment - Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (DOLE-TESDA) for the implementation of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education (UAQTE) Act.

In a news release, the agency said the SARO and its corresponding Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) shall be used to cover the cost of tertiary education for all Filipino students enrolled in Technical Vocational Institutions registered under the TESDA.

Pangandaman said the timely release of funds is one of the government’s initiatives to empower Filipinos since the Marcos administration puts a high premium on the education of Filipinos and human capital development.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in his budget message earlier said, “We will upskill and reskill our labor force by implementing measures that support continuing education, digital learning, training and redeployment.”

“The best investment for the youth of our country is education. Malaking tulong po ang Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education sa ating mga mag-aaral (The Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education is a big help to our students). This will ensure that no Filipino student is left behind.”

The amount, which is chargeable against DOLE-TESDA’s regular budget under the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA), will cover the payment of tuition fees, miscellaneous fees, accident insurance, trainee provision, health/ protective equipment, internet allowance, starter tool kits, national assessment fees and other school fees of beneficiaries for the year.

The DOLE-TESDA has 54,783 target beneficiaries for the UAQTE program in FY 2023 which will be implemented through Diploma Programs nationwide.

DSWD unveils FMS-FYI page in line with PBBM’s digitalization call

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has launched the Finance and Management Service - For Your Information (FMS-FYI) page, a resource site that will serve as the repository of the department’s finance and management-related resources.

DWSD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the move was in response to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to digitalize all government processes.

“I am happy that I got invited to a digital push initiated by the FMS itself. From my understanding, this is a homegrown program developed within the department because we want to comply to the President's directive to digitalize everything. Whenever I hear homegrown, that means you are innovating by yourself,” he said in his keynote speech during the launch on Feb. 14.

Developed by the DSWD’s Information and Communications Technology Management Service, the FMS-FYI can be accessed by various stakeholders to gather information and knowledge resources, such as published news and press releases, copies of speeches and quote cards, photo and video gallery, announcements, downloadable forms, copies of issuances, and standard operating procedures of the FMS.

“You want to better yourselves, you want to better the improvement in the delivery of services, that is why you made this homegrown FMS system and I'm very, very impressed because the very spirit is the spirit of innovation, the spirit of wanting to be better than what we are,” he said.

The DSWD expressed hope that its staff and other stakeholders would be able to efficiently use the FMS-FYI resource site on all DSWD finance-related concerns.

The FMS Resource Site could be accessed through bit.ly/FMSFYI.

The DSWD’s digitalization response came as it ranked third under the government service category of the “Philippines’ Best Employers 2023,” a survey and research conducted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer in partnership with Statista, a Hamburg-based market research company.

Overall, the DSWD grabbed 54th place among the top 300 best employers in 2023.

The research covered about 100,000 recommendations across 27 industries, such as government services, aerospace and defense, banking and financial services, education, and health care.

The result of the ranking is a culmination of an extensive and comprehensive research project that covered thousands of evaluations, opinions of employees, and scores from other companies.

The result showed the DSWD’s positive relationship with its workforce while maintaining an effective delivery of social protection packages to its clients and stakeholders – the vulnerable, poor, and disadvantaged sectors of society.

DOLE introduces new strategies in inspection of establishments

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will be introducing a new inspection strategy that will improve the quality and depth of their inspections of private establishments in the country.

Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said Thursday the new method will include technical advisory visits (TAV) combined with other interventions as an integral part of the new inspection framework.

“We would like to see DOLE inspectors look more closely at substantive matters such as compliance with rules on working hours and proper payment of benefits,” including a “nonnegotiable” stance on occupational safety and health to follow the spirit of the country’s newly passed occupational safety and health law,” he said in a statement.

The DOLE has just concluded a labor inspection summit held last week at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City following the resumption of its labor inspections and a recalibration of its inspection program.

Laguesma also urged the See WORKERS on 6

MANILA -- The Philippines can be rice self-sufficient in two years if the government succeeds in “reorganizing” the Department of Agriculture (DA) and its attached agencies, President Ferdinand R. Marcos said Wednesday.

During a meeting with officials of the DA and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) in Malacañang, Marcos said he was briefed about the state of the country’s irrigation system.

He said it was during the meeting that he and DA and NIA officials agreed on a “timeline” of steps that need to be taken to achieve their goal of self-sufficiency.

“Sa aming calculation, kung magawa natin lahat ng kailangang gawin kasi marami tayong kailangan ayusin, marami tayong ire-reorganize -- pero kung magawa natin lahat ‘yan (Based on our calculations, if we can do everything we need to do, because there’s a lot that needs to be fixed, there's a lot to reorganize -- but if we accomplish them all), we will be close to self-sufficiency for rice in two years,” he said in a video released by the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) to reporters.

Marcos said reorganization efforts require cooperation, convergence and coordination with other agencies such as the DA, NIA, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

“There’s a great deal of work to do pero nakikita na namin kung papaano gagawin (but we can see how we’re going to do it). So that’s what we will work on for now,” he added.

Earlier, the PCO Secretary Cheloy Garafil announced that Marcos has sought the implementation of a program that will promote the use of hybrid rice varieties to help increase crop production in the country following his meeting with executives of SL Agritech Corp. (SLAC) and farmer representatives from Central Luzon in Malacañang.

During the meeting, Garafil said the SLAC, led by its chairperson and chief executive officer Henry Lim Bon Liong, proposed the conversion of about 1.9 million hectares of rice farming areas planted with certified seeds (CS) to enable the planting of hybrid seeds in four years.

"President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday agreed to adopt hybrid rice as a better alternative to the inbred variety for increased crop production. President Marcos said he will implement a program to promote the shift by providing subsidies and facilitating loan financing to farmers,” she said.

Garafil said Marcos also pledged to apply the "best" practices being done by Central Luzon farmers to other areas in the country as part of efforts to strengthen support for rice farmers.

Increasing rice production

Currently, the PCO said that the government has been implementing strategies to increase rice production, such as convincing irrigators associations (IA) and farmers to plant hybrid rice seeds, adopting alternate wetting and drying as a watersaving technology for irrigated lands, harvesting in September during the wet season, and ratooning after harvesting during the wet season.

Ratooning is the agricultural practice of harvesting a monocot crop by cutting most of the above-ground