PH has enough skilled workers – Villanueva
Senator Joel Villanueva used the figures of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to belie claims of Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo that there is a shortage of skilled workers to qualify to work in the government’s big ticket projects to justify the hiring of Chinese workers.
This reported lack in skilled laborers prompted President Duterte to direct TESDA to train Filipino laborers construction skills to be part of the government’s Build, Build, Build project.
Villanueva, the former
TESDA director general, said TESDA produces enough skilled workers to do the jobs Chinese nationals were hired to do.
At the resumption of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development’s hearing on the influx of illegal foreign workers in the country Thursday, Villanueva who sits as committee chair revealed that there were 234,534 graduates of construction-related trainings in TESDA last year increasing by 180 percent from the 83,649 construction graduates in 2017.
Citing government records, Villanueva said majority (97.5 percent) of TESDA graduates choose to work in the country and only 2.52 percent seek employment abroad.
TESDA is allotting 25 percent of its budget for Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) on skills training on construction-related qualifications to boost enrollees in 62 construction-related training regulations, he added.
“It is wrong to say that we don’t have enough supply of skilled workers in construction so we are opening up the jobs for foreign workers. There are a lot of TESDA graduates we could hire,” Villanueva said.
Panelo had earlier said he saw nothing wrong with the presence of Chinese working in China-funded big ticket projects.
“Kaya ang tanong, bakit ipinamimigay sa mga dayuhan ang mga trabaho? Bakit hinahayaan nating manakaw sa ating mga kababayan ang mga oportunidad na ito? Para kanino po ba talaga ang trabahong dala sa construction industry ng Build, Build, Build Program – sa mga Filipino workers o para sa mga Chinese workers? (The question is why are we giving jobs supposed to be for Filipinos to foreigners? Are the jobs generated by the Build, Build, Build program for the Chinese workers or Filipinos?” he asked.
Inter-agency committee
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, on the other hand, clarified that the government continues to prioritize Filipinos in the Build, Build, Build program.
He said even if the projects are China-funded, Filipinos should be hired to implement them.
He maintained that the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) do not give alien employment permits for jobs that can be done by locals, including construction, as stated in the Labor Code.
“Wala dapat maagawan ng trabaho na Filipino (No Filipinos should be robbed of employment opportunities)... we will not allow foreigners to work at the expense of Filipinos,” Bello assured in an interview after the hearing.
At Thursday’s hearing, Bello announced the government is finalizing the creation of an interagency committee that will regulate the entry of foreign workers.
The committee will be led by the DOLE, with the departments of Finance, Justice, Trade and Industry, as well as the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Immigration, and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) as members.
The committee will establish a full inventory of foreign workers including the collection of taxes in the country to regulate their work, he said.
Bello said he is looking at imposing stiffer penalties for companies hiring illegal foreign workers. (With a report from Erma R. Edera)