BOOSTING JOBS, SKILLS, AND PRODUCTIVITY WITH THE TULONG TRABAHO ACT
APRIL 10, 2019
Early this year on February 22, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Republic Act 11230, or the Act Instituting a Philippine Labor Force Competencies Competitiveness Program and Free Access to Technical-Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
The bill is simply known as the “Tulong Trabaho Act”.
RA 11230 aims to improve the skills of the Filipino labor force by providing FREE access to technical-vocational education, which in turn will help improve employment rate. The creation of a Philippine Labor Force Competencies Competitive Program through RA 11230 together with the help of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will address unemployment and jobs-mismatch by assessing the current requirements of industries.
Tulong Trabaho Fund
The law creates a fund called the Tulong-Trabaho Fund. It grants qualified recipients access to Technical-Vocational Education and Training programs through the full payment of fees for selected training programs, along with other financial assistance needed, such as transportation allowance and laboratory fees. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) will oversee the distribution of these funds.
As stated in Article II, Section 9 of the bill, those qualified to avail assistance from the Tulong Trabaho Fund are:
(a) any individual at least fifteen (15) years of age who are not employed, not in education and not in training (NEET), and;
(b) employed workers, who intend to develop their current skills and training
Industry bodies looking for funding for selected training programs will submit a list of applicants who have requested assistance from the Tulong Trabaho Fund to the Regional Directors of TESDA. The Regional Directors will then assess these recipients and submit a list of who is qualified to the TESDA Director General for approval.
Senator Joel Villanueva, chair of the Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resource Development stated that “with the signing of Tulong Trabaho Law, we look forward to TESDA producing more tech-voc graduates and become skilled workers that our labor market needs. The next step here is to craft the implementing rules and regulations of the law so that the programs get a head start.”
This can help more people find jobs with the Government’s BuildBuildBuild projects as a lot of companies are looking for more construction workers, skilled laborers, mechanics, engineers as well as Administrative Officers, Staff, Office Aides, IT specialists, and more.
APRIL 10, 2019