Fulfilling their mission of ensuring that workers are informed of their rights, benefits, and privileges under the Employees’ Compensation Program (ECP), Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz yesterday announced that the Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) , an attached agency of the DOLE, will get Philippine National Police personnel as participants in the ECC’s ECP advocacy campaign.

ECC OIC-Executive Director Stella Zipagan-Banawis made the announcement during the visit conducted of the ECC-Quick Response Program (ECC-QRP) Team to the families of two police officers in Bulacan who were shot and killed in an encounter with motorcycle riding men in Caloocan City.

“We shall be targeting PNP personnel as participants in our forthcoming ECP advocacy seminars,” Banawis said.

The ECC-QRT, whose main function is to provide workers or their beneficiaries counseling services, assistance in availing adequate medical services, and in filing of
EC claims, visited the families of SPO3 Tom Perez and SPO1 Tirso Roncales to explain to them the ECP.

In addition, the Team assisted them in accomplishing the application forms and documents required to facilitate the processing of their claims.

“The wives of the slain police officers, Mrs. Grace Perez and Mrs. Edna Roncales, were both grateful for the assistance the ECC extended to them,” Banawis said.

In 2011, the ECP, through its administering agencies, the Social Security System (SSS) for the private sector, and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for the public sector, has awarded a total of P1.145 billion in benefit payments covering 282,046 claims filed by workers.

However, Secretary Baldoz admitted that despite the billions of benefits granted to the public and private sector workers under the ECP, there are still many workers and employers who have no knowledge about the benefits and privileges they can avail under the program.

Furthermore, she said that there is a need for a comprehensive and extensive public communication campaign in order to achieve a higher level of understanding among workers about the ECP. Because of this, she already directed ECC to intensify awareness of ECP nationwide.

The Information and Publication Assistance Division of the ECC regularly conducts monthly in-house and regional advocacy seminars with human resource officers, administrative officers, owners of establishments, and union representatives as participants.

The seminar focuses on the three aspects of the EC program which are prevention, compensation, and rehabilitation services.

Any question about this release? Contact ECC hotline at telephone numbers 899-4251.

END/rhev

With the country's growing economy, representatives of various industries who spoke during the Regional Career Advocacy Congress last month see increased demand for skills in the next few years, particularly in construction, as the government boost its infrastructure spending through public-private partnerships (PPP).

This was the gist of the report of DOLE Regional Office No. 6 Director Ponciano Ligutom to Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz at the conclusion of the Congress, held at Punta Villa Resort, Iloilo City.

"The private sector in the region is upbeat. In fact, private sector representatives had urged the government, the academe, and the business sector to work together to answer the skills requirements of industries identified as key employment generators in the country, specifically here in Western Visayas," said Ligutom in his report.

According to Ligutom, the industries in the region that see increased demand for skills include the business process outsourcing, health, tourism, agriculture, and construction.

"These are the industries the private sector has identified as the key employment drivers in the region in the next five years based on the Project JobsFit: The DOLE 2020 Vision," he said.

At the Congress, speaker after speaker focused on the projected skills requirements of these industries and the issues that need to be addressed, such as lack of skilled or experienced workers.

Manolito Madrasto, executive director of the Philippine Construction Association, said that skills requirement in the construction industry will increase considerably next year because of government's infrastructure spending. He said the construction industry would need professionals like architects and engineers, equipment operators and mechanics, and skilled and unskilled construction workers.

Atty. Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, chair and co-founder of the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP), presented the growing needs for workers in the BPO industry.

"As the country progresses to a services-led global knowledge economy, we see a need for more workers in BPO companies in Western Visayas," Batapa-Sigue said, noting that the country is now outpacing India as more multi-national companies are choosing the Philippines as their destination of choice.

There is also a growing need for workers in agriculture industry because of global opportunities in China, Taiwan, India and the ASEAN, said Col. Alejandro T. Escaño, who presented a paper on agriculture.

"Career opportunities that would manifest in the agriculture sector include those for agri-technicians, agri-extension workers, teachers/trainers, farm supervisors, managers, traders, suppliers, and entrepreneurs.

Col. Escaño noted that agriculture, while it has lost its appeal as a career option because of the preference of today's young people for four-year college courses they believe promise overseas employment, promises a lot of job opportunities.

In the health sector, Dr. Kenneth G. Ronquillo, director of the Health Human Resource Development Bureau, presented the in-demand occupations in this sector for such workers as nurses for theater/operating rooms and for critical care/intensive care; pediatrics, cardiovascular physicians; and anesthesiologists. He said there is also strong demand for these workers in the Middle East and European countries, and even in Asia like Singapore, Brunei, Taiwan, and Japan.

The exodus of professionals abroad has left the country with hard-to-fill occupations for physicians, physical therapists, pharmacists, medical technologists, laboratory technicians and massage therapists, according to Dr. Ronquillo.

On tourism, Aireen Clemente, president of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association, said employment opportunities in this sector include indirect jobs that may be created as a result of increasing tourists arrival in the country.

The Regional Career Advocacy Congress served as an avenue for labor market information sharing and for DOLE partners, namely the guidance counselors and Public Employment Service Office (PESO) managers to strengthen partnerships and collaboration in the conduct of career counseling to high school and college students so they would be guided in choosing the correct career paths.

END
Reported by Amalia N. Judicpa, Senior LEO/LCO

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz yesterday welcomed the results of the 2012 Second Semester Executive Outlook Survey (OES) of the Makati Business Club (MBC) which gave the DOLE a satisfaction score of 56.3 percent and a very improved ranking of No. 10 from No. 23 in 2011.

"The MBC's favorable rating of the DOLE should inspire all of us at the Department to work harder," Baldoz said, even as she challenged all DOLE officials and employees to further improve DOLE program and services delivery.

“The results of the survey are valuable feedbacks that inspire us toward more effective and efficient public service delivery," Baldoz reiterated.

The MBC Survey, conducted from 19 June to 23 July 2012, was participated in by 55 senior business executives representing 14.7 percent of the 375 MBC member companies and business associates. A total of 53 government agencies were ranked by the MBC members in the survey.

In the results, the DOLE joins the company of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Department of Finance, Department of Tourism, Department of Budget and Management, Securities and Exchange Commission Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Department of Trade and Industry, Office of the Vice President, and Department of Education, as the agencies with the highest positive net performance ratings.

"Congratulations and more power to DOLE for its 20-year high net performance rating in the recent MBC survey," said Michael B. Mundo, senior research associate and chief economist of the Makati Business Club, in a letter he had sent to Secretary Baldoz.

Mundo also congratulated the Department for the unprecedented 10-place jump of the Philippines in the labor market efficiency pillar of the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index in 2012-2013; for the successful launch of the National Statistics Month 2012; and for the top rank of the Philippine labor market across 59 countries under business efficiency in the IMD's World Competitiveness Yearbook 2012.

The labor and employment secretary has conveyed to the MBC the Department's appreciation of the senior business executives who participated in the MBC Executive Outlook Survey.

In a letter, she also updated the MBC leadership on the progress of the seven key labor and employment reforms of the DOLE for better business environment as a pre-requisite for job creation which, Baldoz said, are being supported by the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council.

In her update, Baldoz said the seven key labor and employment reforms are consistent with the DOLE's commitment to the MBC's Integrity Initiative and the DOLE Decent Work and Competitiveness Strategy which implements the President's 22-point Labor and Employment Agenda.

She enumerated these reforms as follows: (1) Cooperation in labor and employer relations; (2) Flexibility in wage and pay and productivity; (3) Cultivating a culture of voluntary compliance with labor laws and standards; (4) Institutionalizing seal of good housekeeping for good corporate citizens; (5) Employment facilitation services; (6) Participatory system of labor governance; and, (7) Transparent and accountable governance.

END/Joseph

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz yesterday warned overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) against using commercial visas to go to Kuwait to work, saying the scheme places them at a very precarious and dangerous situation.

Baldoz issued the warning after receiving a report from Labor Attache to Kuwait David Des T. Dicang who said the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Kuwait continues to receive employment- and immigration-related complaints from Filipino workers deployed to Kuwait on commercial visas.

In his report, Labor Attaché Dicang listed the Kuwaiti companies whose Filipino workers have sought the POLO's help in the past few months for various problems, such as unissued residence/work visas, unpaid salaries, maltreatment or harassment, and other work-related issues.

The companies are as follows: (1) Next Spa Salon; (2) Al Wazzan Home Care; (3) Al Bremi International; (4) Basco Camp; (5) Latino Spa; (6) Arabtec Construction Co.; (7) SITCO Group of Companies; and (8) Raneem Beauty Salon.

"We have observed that workers on commercial visas have been approved and processed for companies in surprisingly large numbers, such as in the case of the Raneem Beauty Salon where 47 workers were processed on commercial visas for only one company," Dicang reported.

Baldoz said POLO-Kuwait has explained that a Kuwaiti commercial visit visa is only for the purpose of job assessment/interview, and not actual employment, and this posed a difficulty for the POLO in addressing the complaints of workers deployed to Kuwait on this type of visa.

"A worker on a commercial visa is supposed to travel back to his country of origin and return to Kuwait on a work visa, but in reality, companies in Kuwait getting workers on commercial visa convert the commercial visas into work visa since this is a faster and less-cumbersome way to employ workers from the Philippines," reported Labor Attache Dicang.

"Some Filipino workers on commercial visas are sometimes required to exit Kuwait to a third country, such as Bahrain, and return to Kuwait at the workers' expense to process their work visas," he added.

Dicang also explained in his report that the government is in no position to verify the terms and conditions of a worker's employment if he came to Kuwait in a commercial visa which was converted to a work visa because in most cases, the worker is not provided a copy of an employment contract or do not have one.

He also said an OFW planning to go to Kuwait on a commercial visa to work cannot file employment-related complaints with the Ministry of Labor or Shuon. As a last resort, a worker with an expired visa will have to pay hefty penalty fees or karama, or else submit to detention and subsequent deportation.

"The POLO cannot also compel any agency to resolve the problems of a worker in case a company/sponsor does not cooperate and does not fulfill its obligations, since a worker on a commercial visa is deployed irregularly and not through a licensed recruitment agency," Dicang also explained.

In his report, Dicang cited the case of one Randy de Ocampo who had requested POLO assistance about his situation.

Ocampo had complained that on 30 June 2012 he sent a copy of his passport via email to a friend in Kuwait and after just three days, or on 04 July 2012, he received his commercial visa by courier under the sponsorship of Al-Wazan United Company for Trading and Contracting. On 27 July 2012, De Ocampo arrived in Kuwait on a one-month commercial visa.

Dicang said De Ocampo did not report to his sponsor because he could not make up his mind to work with the company as a masseur under its branch Philippine Spa.

"He said he realized that this was not the kind of employment he wanted for himself, he being a forestry graduate from the University of the Philippines. Soon, we received a report that De Ocampo’s visa has expired," Dicang said.

In view of the above incident, Baldoz has instructed the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to look into this matter in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Bureau of Immigration, and other concerned government agencies.

END/Joseph

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz last week visited Barangay Aguid in Sagada, Mt. Province, bringing with her the government's message of hope to 120 children from five barangays identified to be at-risk of becoming child laborers and to their parents, and saying that support of local government units is crucial to the success of the government's efforts to make the Philippines child-labor free.

"Education is the best antidote to a life of poverty and hazardous child work," said Baldoz to Barangay Aguid residents who came in full force to see and hear the first Secretary of Labor and Employment to have visited this mountain barangay, seven kilometers north of Sagada town proper.

"We must work together to stop child labor because it is a menace that saps the future strength of the nation, and the only way to make our country child labor-free, to ensure the success of our fight against child labor is through the support of local government units," Baldoz explained.

Accompanied by Regional Director Henry John Jalbuena of the DOLE Cordillera Administrative Region, Allison Belagan representing Cong. Maximo Dalog, and Sagada Mayor Eduardo Latawan Jr., Baldoz joined the principal, Lucia Ticag, teachers, and the pupils and parents of Aguid Elementary School in an early morning ceremony to publicly announce the approval by the Sagada Sangguniang Bayan of a municipal ordinance, the Sagada Municipal Code for Children, which establishes a comprehensive support system for child survival, development, protection and participation in Sagada.

Sagada local government officials also attended the ceremony, highlighted by the presentation to Secretary Baldoz by the barangay captains of Aguid, Banga-an, Fidelisan, Tanulong, Madonog, and Pide of their respective memorandum of agreement with the DOLE-CAR on the DOLE's child labor-free barangay campaign (CLFBC) and anti-illegal recruitment and trafficking in persons (AIR-TIP) drive.

Sagada, one of Mt. Province's 10 towns, is a 5th class municipality. It is largely an agricultural town, with a high yield of temperate vegetables and citrus fruits like lemon and oranges, as well as high-value crops like coffee. It is also a tourist destination, known for its spectacular natural beauty.

As a typical agricultural community, Sagada households utilize all able-bodied family members, including children, as unpaid labor in various farm work. Lately, the discovery of mineral deposits in the town ignited a boom in small-scale, "pocket" mining, evident in some of Sagada's barangays, including the six barangays that the DOLE has set its focus on making child labor-free.

Sagada has an estimated 644 working children, 491 of them in hazardous labor, out of 3,567 children population aged 5-17 years old, as shown in the NSO's 2011 Survey on Child Labor.

Thus far, the DOLE Cordillera Administrative Region has profiled 120 children at-risk of becoming child laborers in six of Sagada's 19 barangays. Sixty of these 120 children were observed to have been engaged in "pocket" mining and the rest were into gardening/farming.

The regional office has already converged its program with other government agencies in an effort to move the DOLE's child labor-free barangay campaign fast forward. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, an attached agency of the DOLE, is cooperating with the Sagada LGU to provide skills and livelihood training to parents of child laborers.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development, a key DOLE ally, has enrolled 43 families with children at-risk of becoming child laborers in the Conditional Cash Transfer or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

"The DSWD is finalizing its modified CCT program and will prioritize for enrolment families with child laborers or families with children at-risk of becoming child laborers," said Baldoz in her message to the Sagadans. "This means that many of you will have the chance to be part of the CCT program in the future," she said.

The Departments of Interior and Local Government and Education are also doing their share of the anti-child labor effort in the town. The DILG has encouraged and supported the reactivation of the Local Councils for the Protection of Children (LCPCs). All of Sagada's 19 barangays have already reactivated their respective Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC).

The DepEd, on the other hand, is keeping Sagada's children in school through its monitoring of students at risk of dropping out (SARDO) and other interventions, such as teacher training, eradicating bullying and violence in schools, and participation in the DOLE's Angel Tree project which provides students various forms of educational assistance.

Baldoz praised Mayor Eduardo Latawan Jr. and his officials for their candor in admitting that child labor exists in Sagada and then doing something to solve it.

"I truly admire your strong support to the government's anti-child labor effort. I also commend the Sangguniang Bayan, led by Vice Mayor Richard Yodong, for enacting Municipal Ordinance No. 05-2012, or the Sagada Code for Children, a comprehensive local legislation that other municipalities should emulate," said Baldoz.

During her visit to Brgy. Aguid, Baldoz distributed school supplies to the identified 120 children at-risk of becoming child laborers under Project Angel Tree and P1.52 million in livelihood assistance to the parents of the 120 children.

The assistance, coursed through the municipal government for distribution to the parents in the six barangays, were intended for the parents' livelihood, such as meat processing, soya production, peanut production, coffee processing, souvenir shop operation, and linapit-making under the DOLE's Kabuhayan Para sa mga Magulang ng Batang Manggagawa (KASAMA) administered by the Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns.

She also awarded checks totaling P600,412.50 to the Mabisil, Insigidan, Tibonga-en, Sadsad Organization and the Association of Southern Sagada Episcopalians for their cassava processing and organic vegetable and strawberry production. The assistance will benefit 190 Sagadans.

END

“With its objective of ensuring prompt, timely, and efficient delivery of employment services and provision of information on the DOLE programs, the Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs) not only bridge the gap between jobs and jobseekers. They help jobseekers attract jobs."

This is the statement of Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), through the Bureau of Local Employment, kicks-off the 12th National PESO Congress at the Baguio Convention Center, Baguio City.

The PESO managers and staff across all regions have gathered for the three-day congress on 10-13 October 2012 anchored on the theme “Tugon ng PESO: Wastong Trabaho at Agarang Serbisyo.”

"The PESO’s theme for this year supports the over-arching goal of President Benigno S. Aquino III’s 22-point Labor and Employment Agenda which is to make human resource more competitive and employable,” Baldoz said, who shall deliver the welcome message at the congress.

Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada who chairs the Senate Committee on Labor Employment and Human Resources shall deliver the keynote message, while Senator Teofisto Guingona shall grace the awarding ceremonies for the Best PESOs of 2012.

Department of Education Secretary Armin Luistro is also expected to give a presentation on the PESO-DepEd program complementation on career advocacy.

Serving as venue for knowledge sharing and exchange, the 12th PESO National Congress shall showcase the best practices from the PESOs of San Fernando and Angeles, Pampanga; province of Sorsogon; DLSU-Dasmariñas, Cavite; and the municipalities of Gen. Trias, Cavite and Dujali, Davao del Norte.

Resource persons from the International Labor Organization, Asian Development Bank, Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc., Philippine Travel Agencies Association, and Business Processing Association of the Philippines shall also educate the roster of PESO managers on various employment and labor market topics essential to their role in bridging the link between employees and jobs.

Created by virtue of Republic Act No. 8759 or the PESO Act of 1999, the PESO is a non-fee charging multi-employment service facility mandated to carry out employment opportunities for all and to strengthen and expand the existing employment facilitation service machineries of the government, particularly at the local levels.

"The PESO has been envisioned to be a community-based facility and maintained largely by a local government unit (LGU), or a non-governmental organization (NGO), community-based organization (CBO), or a state university or college (SUC) for it to be effective in serving its purpose," Baldoz said.

“They provide a venue where people could explore various employment options and where they can get adequate information on employment and on the labor market situation in their respective areas,” she added.

Serving not only the jobseekers, a PESO also caters to employers, students, out-of-school youths, migratory workers, planners, researchers, labor market information  (LMI) users, persons with disabilities (PWDs), returning Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), and displaced workers.

The PESO conducts pre-employment and occupational counseling, career guidance, and values development activities. It provides employability enhancement training and seminars to jobseekers, as well as to those who would like to change careers or enhance their employability, under the supervision of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

These employment mediators at the local level regularly conduct jobs fairs and livelihood and self-employment bazaars. Some of their programs include Special Credit Assistance for Placed Overseas Workers; Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES); Work Appreciation Program (WAP); and Workers Hiring for Infrastructure Projects.

End/rhev

The government's strengthened anti-illegal recruitment (AIR) drive has received a strong boost last week after the country's biggest group of manning companies pledged its support, Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz announced yesterday.

Citing a report of Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Baldoz said the Joint Manning Group (JMG) had promised support to the government's AIR campaign through a letter congratulating and commending the POEA's "firm determination to address illegal recruitment", particularly at the Luneta Seafarer's Center in Ermita, Manila, and to "protect the interests and welfare of our seafarers who unwittingly fall prey to recruitment malpractices".

"We express our continued support for your programs aimed at improving our recruitment practices and protecting our maritime manpower," said the JMG in its letter.

The JMG is composed of the Filipino Association for Mariners' Employment, Inc. (FAME), and represented by Jose Albar G. Kato; Filipino Shipowners' Association, Inc. (FSA), represented by Dario Alampay Jr., who is also the chairman of the JMG; International Maritime Association of the Philippines (INTERMAP), represented by Atty. Vincent Miranda; Philippine Association of Manning Agencies and Shipmanagers, Inc. (PAMAS), represented by Pedro Miguel F. Oca; and Philippine-Japan Manning Consultative Council (PJMCC), represented by Eduardo Manese.

Baldoz expressed appreciation to the JMG for its pledge of support, saying that the same group had already been an active partner in the government's AIR campaign during her watch as POEA administrator for eight years.

The JMG's action stemmed from the POEA's filing of appropriate charges last month against 19 manning agencies found conducting illegal recruitment activities at the Luneta Seafarer’s Center.

The POEA’s Operations and Surveillance Division, assisted by agents of the Anti-Transnational Crime Division of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG), conducted a special operation against reported illegal activities in the area by posing as applicants. Inquiring about available seafarer positions from agencies present at the Seafarer’s Center, the POEA-PNP team reported that agency representatives handed them company brochures, calling cards, and flyers listing their respective job openings, effectively recruiting seafarers.

"All recruitment activities outside the registered offices of a licensed recruitment or manning agency are deemed illegal without the special recruitment authority (SRA) issued by the POEA," Cacdac said, saying that the POEA had stopped since May 2009 the issuance of Special Recruitment Agencies to manning agencies for reported recruitment malpractices, and ordered those occupying booths at the Luneta Seafarer’s Center to end their recruitment activities or face administrative sanctions.

Cacdac said the POEA had already suspended the license of 12 manning agencies and ordered them to pay appropriate fines for recruiting seafarers in the area without the SRA.

Instead of going to the Luneta to find seafaring jobs, he advised seafarers to file their applications directly with licensed manning agencies in their registered office address which can be found in the POEA website, www.poea.gov.ph.

The JMG said that time and again, it has advised its members against engaging in activities at the Luneta Seafarer’s Center and have warned them of the repercussions of such actions.

Secretary Baldoz, in commending the JMG, said she has always been spiritually and emotionally moved by the anguish of victims of illegal recruitment.

"This makes me more determined to stamp out this menace once and for all,” she said, adding:

"It is for this reason that I expanded the AIR Branch in the POEA and linked it with all government agencies concerned with human trafficking and illegal recruitment activities.”

END/Joseph

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz yesterday cited the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for increasing the inclusion of out-of-school youths (OSY) in the DOLE attached agency’s Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP), in convergence with the Special Program for the Education of Students (SPES).

Baldoz, citing a TESDA report, said that 3,699 marginalized OSYs in 15 regions of the country have benefited from this continuing SPES-TESDA convergent project.

“I expect many more marginalized OSY to benefit from this program under the joint SPES-TWSP cooperation of the DOLE and TESDA,” said Baldoz,

“The TESDA, by including SPES youth in its TWSP thrust, is fulfilling its responsibility of promoting SPES based on the joint implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 9547, amending RA 7323 or the Special Program for the Education of Students (SPES)”, Baldoz added.

The labor and employment chief emphasized that the SPES-TWSP convergence aims to hone our youth on appropriate skills that will increase their employability. TESDA deputy director general for vocational education and training (TVET) Irene M. Isaac had reported in August P23,350,000.00 have been set aside by the agency for the DOLE-TESDA Convergence on the SPES and the TWSP.

Isaac explained that the SPES-TWSP convergence is tailored for marginalized OSY who are not enrolled in schools, but would want to avail of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET). To assist them, TESDA shoulders their training cost, the while DOLE provides the allowances. OSYs within the 15 to 25 years age bracket who have reached at least high school level are eligible for the program.

Isaac said that the highest number among the 3,996 beneficiaries was the National Capital Region (NCR) at 932 OSYs. It is followed by Region VI (with 630), and Region VII (416). Nationwide, the other beneficiaries were in the other regions as follows: Cordillera Administrative Region (140); Region I (74); Region IV-A (122); Region IV-B (198); Region V (165); Region VIII (17); Region IX (97); Region X (277); Region XI (291); Region XII (276); and CARAGA Region (164).

Any questions or feedbacks on this release? Please call up the TESDA at tel. nos. 817-4076 locals 704 or 707.

END/mjlc