Marcos backs 3-year service proposal for IT, health care scholars

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has supported the proposal of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) to continue training workers in the information technology (IT) and health sectors and require them to serve at least two to three years in the Philippines before being allowed to work abroad.

During the 5th meeting with the PSAC-Jobs Sector Group in Malacañang on Thursday, the President said that such a move would address lack of human resources in those sectors.

“It’s fine [because] if they find jobs abroad, that’s good for them. But the problem is here, we lose the talent that we train … that we took through the certification system,” Marcos said.

“We have to come up with some kind of strategy wherein, let’s say, you provide scholarships and then the scholarship agreement includes that you stay three years. After that, then they’re free to go,” he added.

The President supported the PSAC’s proposal as he cited “brain drain” issues in the health care and IT sectors.

He said, “More and more skilled Filipino workers seek greener pastures abroad, leaving the country with few talents to support those industries.”

PSAC officials earlier said that the local labor market for those sectors cannot match the lucrative pay being offered by companies and health care facilities in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Europe.

And the Philippine strategy must focus on continuously training new workers, the officials told the President.

“I think what we can do is to continue to offer certificate programs and train their skills. I think we can do that. There’s no way for us to retain them,” said Teresita Sy-Coson of SM Investments Corp., who presented the proposals on behalf of the PSAC-Jobs sector.

“Even in the digital, if we train them … in cybersecurity or in whatever advanced technology, they’ll also leave. If only we can get them for two years, good enough…,” Coson said.

PSAC-Jobs also recommended the reinforcement of Marcos’ earlier directive to prioritize the crafting of a coordinated game plan in which the Departments of Health (DoH), Migrant Workers and Foreign Affairs, and the Commission on Higher Education can negotiate with other countries on hiring Filipino workers.

PSAC supported the President’s step, demanding the said departments to negotiate a position of strength with foreign governments, which it said was in the right direction.

The advisory body also said DoH’s human resources for health care master plan must be supported, suggesting the government should prioritize negotiating with other countries such as Canada, US and Australia.

This includes requiring them to adopt a hospital or a school, invest in them so that they can participate in the country’s labor force and afterwards require the graduates to stay in the Philippines for at least two years before they could seek employment overseas.

Such a scheme, PSAC said, could give the country at least some period of time to sustain the country’s supply of workers.

On the country’s employment situation, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the number of employed Filipinos reached 50.52 million in December 2023, with 0.88 million jobs generated since November 2023.

The unemployment rate further declined in December 2023 to its lowest rate since April 2005.