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| 03 FEBRUARY 2008 | . | |
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| 03 FEBRUARY 2008 | . | |
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| PGMA hikes by P350 million allocation for gov’t training program for BPOs |
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With President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the special guest, the Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) will turn over tomorrow
(Monday) P350 million to the Business Processing Association of the
Philippines (BPAP) to finance the training of up to 47,000 Filipino workers
for the business processing outsourcing (BPO) industry. The allocation, which will come from the PGMA-Training for Work Scholarship Program (PGMA-TWSP), is seen as a major boost to the government’s efforts to train and build a formidable talent pool for the BPO sector until 2010. TESDA Director General Augusto Syjuco and BPAP Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Oscar Sanez will sign the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) binding the two agencies to co-manage the training project in a simple ceremony at the Bahia Room of the Manila Intercontinental Hotel, in Makati City, in the presence of President Arroyo. During the launching of the "Offshoring and Outsourcing Philippines: Roadmap 2010" BPAP at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel on Nov. 5, 2007, BPAP requested the President for P350 million from the PGMA-TWSP to jumpstart the program to develop a talent pool until 2010 that would be ready to fill 600,000 new jobs from direct employment. The roadmap identifies key initiatives and actions to meet the government’s goal of attaining a 10 percent share of the global outsourcing market by 2010. Syjuco said TESDA will turn over the P350 million training fund to BPAP for distribution to its members namely, Animation Council of the Philippines Inc. (ACPI), Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines, Inc. (MTIAPI) and the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA); and non-BPAP companies, training providers and BPOs engaged in training BPO workers. Since its establishment in 2006, the PGMA-TWSP has provided training and employment opportunities to 26,166 call center agents, medical transcriptionists, animators and software developers. This year, some 47,000 more Filipinos will benefit from the program following the grant of the P350 million training fund by the President, Syjuco said. For his part, Sañez said the additional training fund would boost efforts by TESDA-BPAP to build a big talent pool for the offshoring and outsourcing industry in the country. "We thank President Arroyo for providing the fund that will benefit the country in the long run in terms of developing a substantial pool of skilled manpower for the business process outsourcing industry," Syjuco and Sañez said in a statement. From May 2006 to Sept. 2007, at least 44,331 call center agents had completed their training program at TESDA. Of the 2006-2007 graduates, 50.66 percent have been employed. Among them were 6,346 medical transcriptionists and 389 software developers. One of the star performers of the economy, the BPO industry has consistently registered an annual growth rate of 45 percent over the past three years. As of end 2007, BPAP had placed total export revenues of the sector at $4.8 billion, and jobs generated at 320,000. |
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| PGMA asks colleges to fit course offerings to demands of market |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has called on the country’s colleges and
universities to fit their course offerings to the demands of the market to
ensure that their graduates enjoy a competitive edge in the quest for jobs
here and abroad. “We ask colleges and universities to update themselves about the current demands in the local and international market, and to offer courses fitting their graduates to the skills requirements of available jobs,” the President said in her keynote address during the opening of the First Biennial Education Congress (FEBC) last Thursday (Jan. 31). The President, initiated the holding of the education congress to draw up plans and undertake immediate steps to cure the ails of the Philippine educational system. She said there should be “no more customs administration, a little bit less of business management, more of entrepreneurship” in course offerings. She also asked colleges and universities established by local governments units (LGUs) to “comply with the standards of the Commission of Higher Education (CHED).” In an earlier meeting with the President in Baguio City, the presidents of both state and private colleges and universities from the three regions in Northern Luzon proposed that LGUs be allowed to establish their own “pamantasans” only if there are no available colleges or universities in their areas. In her address before the FBEC, the President also instructed the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) to “update its licensure examinations to reflect current technical and scientific requirements for of business and industry.” Enthusing over the seven million jobs created during the past seven years of her administration, the President told the education stakeholders that “poverty alleviation is our overarching goal.” “We will continue to focus on it (poverty alleviation). Balancing the budget is just the first step. Over the next few years, we will translate the positive results of our reforms to real benefits for the people,” she said. She pointed out that from the beginning of her administration, “we have recognized education as the key to our next generation in order to get ahead and get a good job.” To upgrade the country’s educational system, the government has allocated billions of pesos to education, including P1 billion for skills-development and another P1billion for teacher training. Similarly, the government “will continue to invest in new school construction at the elementary school level, and to bolster our scholarship program for high schools students and those ready for higher education.” “We are able to do all these because the Philippine economy has turned around with 28 consecutive quarters of growth, topped off by seven-percent growth in 2007. Our stock market is up, seven million jobs have been created in seven years, and our currency is one of the strongest in Asia. Investments are surging and many new companies are investing in us – we are one of the best values in Asia right now,” she said. Believing that education is a “core value of Philippine society and family life” and the very “foundation of economic prosperity and individual liberty, justice and self-worth,” the President said she had issued Executive Order No. 652 creating the Presidential Task Force for Education (PTFE) to assess, plan and monitor the entire educational system. “We called this (education) congress to discuss the progress report of the Task Force,” she said. |
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| PGMA takes direct hand to resolve brewing squabble over speakership |
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Taking a direct hand in resolving the brewing squabble over the speakership,
in her capacity as head of the administration coalition in the House of
Representatives, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will preside over a
caucus of coalition leaders starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Monday) in
Malacanang. Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye, who made the announcement, also said that the President met shortly after noon today with Lakas stalwarts at the Malacanang Golf Club on the speakership issue. The “idea (of holding the caucus) was to get the sentiment” of the coalition leaders, with the objective of coming up with a consensus on the issues,” Bunye said. He added that the President decided to invite the leaders of the administration parties to a caucus on the suggestion of House Majority Floorleader Art Defensor and House Deputy Speaker Simeon Datumanong. The “over-riding concern” of tomorrow’s caucus is to “have an amicable settlement of the (speakership) issue,” Bunye explained. He said that “after discussing the forthcoming Lakas directorate meeting scheduled on February 7… the attendees (of today’s meeting) also decided to tackle a prejudicial question – the matter of the speakership.” It was “agreed that the matter can best be settled through a caucus of leaders of administration coalition parties – the Lakas, Kampi, NPC, LP, NP, LDP, PDSP, and Party List,” he said, adding that each administration coalition partner will have “more or less four” representatives in tomorrow’s meeting. “One of the modes which could possibly be discussed tomorrow is straw voting,” Bunye said. The President did not join the nine-hole game led by former President Fidel V. Ramos and Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. but she later presided over the three-hour meeting of the coalition leaders that started at 12:15 p.m. The meeting was also attended by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Senator Miguel Zubiri, Rep. Mat Defensor, Rep. Ed Zialcita, League of Cities president Benhur Abalos, ULAP president Ramon Guico; Cabinet Secretaries Peter Favila, Margarito Teves, and Bunye; and party adviser Gabriel Claudio. The theme of the Feb. 7 Lakas directorate meeting is “Securing the Enduring Legacy of the Party in Pushing the March Towards Economic Progress and Prosperity,” Bunye said. |
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