STATEMENT ON BILLS SEEKING TO promote full employment and improvement of Philippine workforce
February 1, 2012
HON. EMIL L. ONG
Chairman
Committee on Labor and Employment
House of Representatives
Quezon City
Dear Chairman Ong:
Thank you for your letter dated January 25, 2012 inviting us to the public hearing and requesting our views on various House bills seeking to promote full employment and improvement of Philippine workforce.
We commend your Committee for deliberating on these measures intended to improve the labor sector. Human resources development is the first of a few initiatives identified by the National Competitive Council for the Philippines to be globally competitive.
The proposed legislation on promoting full employment and improvement of Philippine workforce, which includes the Mature and Older Workers Act (House Bill 1076 and HB HB 2555, and the proposed bills on establishing manpower and livelihood training centers and livelihood and employment resource centers in all municipalities throughout the country (HB 1274, 1275, 1335 and 5074), find support in Article 13, Section 3 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
Under the proposed Mature and Older Workers Act, an individual possessing the requirements provided for by the Act shall be eligible to participate in the program, which would include one or more of the following authorized trainings and support services: outreach and recruitment; intake and assessment; job search assistance; classroom and occupational skills training; on-the-job training; work experience; basic and remedial education and literacy training; supplemental services; and occupational placement assistance. The programs provided by service providers shall be under the supervision of the Department of Labor and Employment.
The other bills on the improvement of manpower and livelihood skills pertain to the establishment of manpower and livelihood training centers functioning under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and the creation of livelihood and employment resource centers to be organized, managed and operated by the Department of Trade and Industry, in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
II. Benefits of the bills
The proposed bills will address the perennial problem of the Philippine government on unemployment and underemployment. The closing down of banks, corporations, even small scale and medium scale enterprises result to mature and older workers who lose their jobs tend to suffer more because of the emergence of Information and Computer Technology.
The proposed legislation will improve the entire Philippine workforce, i.e. young and inexperienced, mature and suddenly jobless individuals. The bill establishing manpower and livelihood training centers and the livelihood and employment resource centers would bring education and empowerment to the grassroots level. By providing centers in all municipalities nationwide, we will be able to address the problem on lack of education and skills that result to increase in unemployment rate.
III. Downside of the bills
The bills approach the same purpose differently. By providing for programs/centers with different agencies/departments managing the program, the bills would be counterproductive in the long run. The bills can serve better their purpose if they are consolidated into one comprehensive law on improving the capabilities and skills of our workforce.
IV. Recommendations
We recommend that the bills be consolidated into one comprehensive law that will address each problem areas identified by each bill. This way, there would only be one system wherein we can ensure the development and improvement of the skills and competitiveness of our Philippine workforce. Likewise, if the programs proposed by each bill are not within the mandate already of the identified agencies, it would be better if an Inter-Agency Council is established to head the centralized program and system on the development of our workforce. Moreover, the skills for which persons will be trained by must identified in collaboration with various industries, to ensure more employability for the workers.
Lastly, appropriate funding must be provided by government, and there must be proper accounting, monitoring and audit to ensure that funds are used for the purpose and that the training actually results in employment or increased employability.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for considering our views.
Executive Director
American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines
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