GOVPH

MIRDC Holds Dialogue with Partner Associations to Strengthen PH Employment Intervention

by Faith P. Macatangay

Taguig City – On February 15, 2023, the DOST-Metals Industry Research and Development Center (DOST-MIRDC) convened a dialogue with partner metalworking associations and the DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD), to validate the Center’s proposal for skills training for job seekers in the metals and engineering (M&E) manufacturing sector.

The project being proposed will help address the unemployment in the country and is aligned with two of the DOST’s key priority areas – job creation and human resource development.

One of the mandates of DOST-MIRDC is to provide both the government and private sectors in the metals, engineering, (M&E) and allied industries with professional management and technical expertise in the training of engineers and technicians.

In 2012, DOST-MIRDC, together with the partner support organizations, implemented three government grant-in-aid projects to produce CNC programmers and operators that specifically match the requirements of the local M&E industry.

The new proposal, entitled “Employment Development Intervention through Skill Training for Job Seekers in the M&E Manufacturing Sector,” is a three-year project that will train 500 job seekers. Job seekers in this proposal is defined as newly hired employees who are still undergoing immersion in technologies or ‘onboarding.’ Ultimately, the trained employees will return and render service to their hiring companies – benefiting the machining and die and mold industries.

The qualifying educational background of the job seeker can be senior high school student graduates with the technical-vocational track, vocational trade course graduates preferably mechanical technology, industrial technology, and related courses, BS Engineering new graduates, or college-level students who completed at least two-year courses in engineering.

What is the most important thing about this initiative? The training is free. The job seeker will not pay but the cost of training is subsidized by the government. The subsidy of the government comes from the MIRDC and the support from the government funding agencies.

Based on the previous training programs conducted, the new project framework will be mapped out as:

An unemployed job seeker will approach an M&E manufacturing firm. If they pass the hiring process, the firm will endorse them to avail of the free training in DOST-MIRDC, either in Taguig City or at the Mold Technology Support Center (MTSC) in Cavite.

Government agencies will subsidize the training program while the DOST-MIRDC’s role is to train the job seeker. After completion, the trained job seeker will return to their respective hiring firm.

This proposed framework will assure 100% employment of the trainees.

For the project, DOST-MIRDC will provide the services of trainers and training assistants, training facilities, and machines situated in two locations: the Die and Mold Solution Center in DOST-MIRDC Compound, Taguig, and the MTSC in PEZA, Gen. Trias, Cavite.

Dr. Agustin M. Fudolig, MIRDC Deputy Executive Director for R&D, discusses the project proposal on skills training for job seekers in the M&E manufacturing sector.

The following recommendations were raised by the attendees: widen the target participants to include academe personnel in the pool of target trainees, request for inclusions of staggered on-the-job training, include a subject on recycling raw materials in the curriculum, and the establishment of a training school that will offer machining-related courses.

Further, DOST-MIRDC concludes with the following action plans: connect the project to a research and development program to avail of funding from PCIEERD, revise the proposal considering Generation Z’s profile, and promote the image of the manufacturing industry to encourage the youth and the masses to work in the industry.

The amended proposal will then be presented for possible funding and collaboration with relevant government agencies such as the DOST, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), and local government units.

The industry dialogue was attended by the metalworking and allied associations including the Aerospace Industries Association of the Philippines (AIAP), Metalworking Industries Association of the Philippines (MIAP), Philippine Die and Mold Industry Association (PDMA), Inc. and Philippine Plastic Industry Association (PPIA), along with DOST funding agency – DOST-PCIEERD, and the Airforce Research and Development Center (AFRDC).