IMPACT STORIES Nonoy dela Cruz is a graduate of the technical vocational course in

Security Services NC I under JP YEM

TECHNICAL VOCATIONAL A second way

TRAINING IN MASBATE: But it is not only work for the public sector
Keeping the dream alive for as teachers and peacekeepers that can make
careers. Jobs in middle level technical-
Masbate’s disadvantaged vocational skills are as gratifying as work in
other fields.
youth The Philippine government has
continuously advocated that jobseekers must
Perhaps the greatest frustration of being a prepare themselves adequately for the job
youth growing up in disadvantaged market. High cost of schooling means many
circumstances is aspiring for a career and being youth in impoverished settings are not given the
shot down even before one has been given the intense preparation needed for them to land
opportunity to take off. competitive jobs.
“Ever since I was a child, I have always The best that the government can do is to
wanted to join the Army,” says 21-year old offer disadvantaged youth the opportunity to
Nonoy dela Cruz who hails from the village of upgrade their qualification through trainings in
Jamorawan in the town of Milagros in Masbate. labour market-responsive skills needed at the
“I wanted to become a teacher but my local level so that they need not leave their place
family cannot afford it,” muses Onong Ramos, of origin for jobs elsewhere.
who is also 21 and whose roots are in
Cabayugan, an outlying village in Cawayan Eighth poorest province
town in Masbate.
Both youth have unfulfilled aspirations that Composed of three major islands—Masbate,
many other disadvantaged youth in all parts of Ticao and Burias—and several smaller islets,
Masbate can readily identify with. the province of Masbate lies at the center of the
At the brink of adulthood, they are ready to Philippine archipelago and is due south of
take off and claim their place in the world only Manila 17 hours by roll on-roll off bus or an
to have their wings clipped off by the accident hour by airplane.
of being born poor. Majority of people in these island
communities continue to rely on subsistence
Poverty hinders access to education fishing and farming with Nonoy and Onong’s
folks being no exception to the rule.
In a country where the magnitude of the This spartan existence sometimes pushes
poor population is pegged at 23 million people parents to think first of meeting basic necessities
(NSCB, 2009), many youthful ambitions have before other concerns such as ensuring that their
been shelved, including those of Nonoy and children graduate from school and learn a trade
Onong, in favor of more basic issues of survival that will provide decent work.
including food and basic necessities. Amongst the 81-odd provinces in the
Nonoy was a good student in school and he Philippines, Masbate placed eighth in the
was assistant to the commandant in his high National Statistical Coordination Board list of
school citizen’s army training. Onong also got provinces with the highest incidence of poverty.
good grades and it is a shame that both In 2009, the province was reported to have a
youngsters would not be able to attain their 36.6 per cent poverty rate.
childhood dream due to poverty.

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Like workers everywhere, Masbate’s labour

Map of Masbate province (Source: PIDS website) force must compete for limited jobs in labour
pools within and outside of the province.
In the sea of unfettered capitalism, however,
it is the workers without any notable skill or
talent that are bound to be knocked off by the
tossing and turning of the global waves of
economic competition.
It is for this reason that the provision of
technical-vocational trainings is seen as the
most practical undertaking to serve as a safety
net to catch people at the bottom of the rung
who are most prone to bear the brunt of the ill
effects of globalization.

Large families with small incomes Work migration as a strategy

Nonoy and Onong come from large In such stark circumstances, Onong’s family
families, which is the norm in an agricultural has been forced by economic hardship to send
community that values children as helpers and three of his sisters to Manila to work as
potential sources of income for the family unit. housemaids. Two brothers are also working as
Nonoy has six siblings while Onong has nine. factory workers in the country’s capital city.
Their parents are both farmers tilling small plots The other children are too young to earn their
devoted to rice, the country’s staple. As in other keep.
rice-producing areas in the poorer provinces,
agriculture is beset with low productivity, Onong Ramos is another graduate of the technical vocational
course in Security Services NC I under JP YEM
inefficient technology, and inadequate support
services.
“When harvest time comes, we sell a
portion of the crop but the bulk of the palay
(unhusked rice) is really just enough for our
daily sustenance so that we’ll have something to
eat for the rest of the year and during bad
seasons, this is not even enough” according to
Onong.
With basic education provided free by the
State, both Nonoy and Onong’s parents had the Onong himself is expected to be a future
foresight to send their children to school within breadwinner and was sent to Masbate City to
the local area although this brings certain enroll in a short-term vocational course. This is
hardships. Going to school has benefits that only the best that his family can do for him, under the
bring fruit far into the future. For the present, it circumstances, to at least give him a start in life.
entails costs. Mildred Marcaida, provincial director of
Technical Education and Skills Development
A safety net against the rising tide Authority (TESDA), runs the government’s
of globalization technical vocational training programme in
Masbate. She believes that even if we cannot
As globalization deepens, the traditional stench the outflow of youth trying their luck in
sectors of the local economies in the Third the big city, we can at least give them something
World continue to be sucked in its vortex. Rural to increase their chances of landing decent jobs.
societies bear the brunt of the social costs For this reason, the Provincial Office of
associated with the integration of the world TESDA has run numerous training programmes
economy. In Masbate, the prominence of money in skills that would give local youth the edge in
transactions and the commodification of labour jobs in food and beverage services, security
have gradually eroded traditional Filipino values services, housekeeping services, food
of community and sharing. processing, and beauty and health care.

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“When performing their duties as

housekeepers, our youth can provide value-
added services to their employers” Ms.
Marcaida says.
Further, “a housemaid who has undergone
training with us can offer her employer services
in making tocino (cured meat) or doing her
manicure and pedicure. These added services
make her more valuable to her employer and
raises her self-esteem” she adds. Graduation day for technical vocational trainees in Masbate

Reversing the trend

Training grants for disadvantaged youth
The Spanish-funded MDG Joint Programme
on Alternatives to Migration: Decent Jobs for Through the Joint Programme, the ILO
Filipino Youth was launched in July 2009 with partnered with the government’s TESDA and
the objective of widening young people’s choice Provincial Local Government in providing
in choosing what and where to launch their training grants to disadvantaged youth in
careers. Masbate.
Where they are forced by local The grantees were given the opportunity to
circumstances to migrate for work, the Joint enroll in local technical vocational institutions
Programme hopes to provide viable alternatives (TVIs) that include Osmena Colleges, Ovilla
so that the same youth are given the choice to Technical Colleges, and Academy of Computer
stay put in the province. Experts in Masbate City, Abinuman Colleges in
One of these alternatives is through local Cawayan, Cataingan Polytechnic Institute in
labour market-responsive trainings in technical Cataingan, and San Pascual Polytechnic
and vocational skills. Institute in Burias island.
Training courses in labour market-
responsive skills in the province include
automotive technology, electricity, information
and computer technology, food and beverage
services, and security services.
TESDA, through the TVIs, spearheaded the
training of a total of 500 disadvantaged youth.
The first batch received their training
certificates last February 2012.
Nonoy and Onong are two of the more than
250 graduates who attended the graduation
ceremony last May 4, 2012 for the second batch
Graduation day for technical vocational trainees in Masbate
of trainees.
Held at the covered court of the Masbate
In-demand technical vocational skills Provincial Capital compound, the event was the
culmination of the training offered to
A recent study commissioned by the ILO to disadvantaged youth between January and May
assess labour market-responsive skills in 2012.
Masbate concludes that many technical
vocational skills are among those that are most Challenges
in demand.
These include food and beverage services, The situation is different for Christopher
heavy equipment operation, building wiring Escorel, a 23-year old youth from San Jacinto in
installation, automotive servicing, welding, neighboring Ticao island.
information and computer technology, Christopher had to give up school when he
electronics, security services, tour guiding was in the second year of high school due to a
services, driving, and food processing. lack of budget.

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After a short spell, he went back to school

but had to drop out again by the time he was in
the third year of high school.
He never did receive his high school
diploma. The situation was remedied, however,
by a government programme that gives school
drop-outs a second chance to get their degrees.
In his twenties, Christopher availed of the
Department of Education’s Alternative Learning Technical vocational trainees in Food and Beverage Services NC II
and Housekeeping Services NC II from Osmena Colleges with Roche
System (ALS). Angon of ILO (far right)
A flexible schedule in which teachers
guided him in completing school work enabled
him to pass equivalency requirements and be Placing one’s hope in the future
eligible to progress to the next tier of the
education system—middle level technical Masbate’s youth population (those in the 15
vocational school. to 24 age range) was projected at more than
Christopher was also one of the graduates of 127,000 in 2011.
the second batch of technical vocational Around 53 per cent of this number will be
trainings held last May 2012. going through the school system and are not
counted as part of the labour force. Only 42 per
Keeping the dream alive cent of this number will be considered as
employed and around 6 to 7 per cent will be
These days, Nonoy, Onong and Christopher unemployed, based on year-on-year trend from
together with other disadvantaged youth trained previous years.
under the Joint Programme are earning money We have to rely on projections at this point
from local jobs after completing their training. since no recent statistical data exists on the
Both Nonoy and Onong work as reliever- exact numbers. The government’s database is
security guards for a local drugstore chain and a disaggregated only up to the regional level,
pawnshop chain in Masbate City, respectively. leaving out provincial breakdowns.
Many of their batch mates have already made Admittedly, the Joint Programme’s
the exodus to Manila to work as security guards achievement of 500 disadvantaged youth in
in factories and retail establishments. Masbate trained in technical vocational skills is
Christopher, meanwhile, is working as a but a drop in the bucket.
helper-electrician in Masbate City together with This is no mean feat however considering
fellow trainees Lino Rubisa, Jojo Badilla and that in a world of limited resources, programme
Norlito Nuevo. implementers can only do so much under time
Although receiving daily minimum amounts and financial constraints.
equivalent to just around 4 to 5 US dollars for It suffices that these interventions are able
the days that they are working, Christopher and to touch lives and change directions for the
his pals are considered fortunate. At this point in better. It has given hope to sustain the
time, they at least have something to hold on to aspirations of Masbate’s disadvantaged youth.
that will sustain their dream. “We are grateful to the authorities for giving
us the opportunity to add to our skills and
knowledge. This is something that will be useful
to our lives,” says Christopher.Wilbert San
Pedro

Contacts
Ms. Roche M. Angon
National Project Coordinator for ILO
International Labour Organization
Country Office for the Philippines
Tel: +632 5809900
Trainees in Electrical Installation and Maintenance NC II: Lino 19th Floor Yuchengco Tower, RCBC Plaza
Rubisa, Norlito Nuevo,Christopher Escorel and Jojo Badilla
6819 Ayala Avenue, Makati City 1200 Philippines
Website: www.ilo.org/manila

Joint Programme on Alternatives to Migration: Decent Jobs for Filipino Youth