ILOILO CITY — A total of 1,630 displaced workers of Boracay island are now equipped with different skills upon completion of the Special Training for Employment Program (STEP) of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
In a press conference Wednesday, Bernadette Puertas, Information Officer of TESDA in Western Visayas, said the free training is aimed at improving their skills so they will be qualified for other jobs while the island is temporarily closed.
She added that it is also in preparation for the reopening of the island.
“TESDA is working on the up-scaling and multi-scaling of these workers so that when Boracay opens, they will be highly competent especially in life-guarding because we found out that a lot of resorts there have life guards who are not certified,” she said.
In a follow-up interview with Puertas, she said the beneficiaries of training are composed of drivers, indigenous people, hotel workers, among others.
Most of them were trained in construction works because of the ongoing rehabilitation on the island like demolition and improvement of roads, she said.
The department has spent PHP40 million for the training of these workers, sourced from the regular fund of TESDA or General Appropriations Act (GAA).
But Puertas said that they have requested another PHP1-million additional fund for the training of second and third batches composed of about 4,000 workers.
The trainings on the island will be conducted until December.
As of the moment, Puertas said that the enrollment center of TESDA is still open. TESDA opened the center during the island’s closure last April 26.
“We put up three enrollment centers there where they can go and sign up. We hope to gather more applications so we can assist them,” she added. (Cindy Ferrer/PNA)
