COTABATO CITY – Fifty-three former communist rebels completed on Monday a short course provided by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in North Cotabato through its Mobile Training Program
The former rebels, including their families, earned certificates for the TESDA Mobile Training Laboratory on Appliance Repair Electronics Product Assembly NC II.
“Forty of the participants underwent assessment and evaluation and 23 of them passed,” said Noraya Acas, TESDA provincial director for North Cotabato.
“Those who did not pass the assessment will have their certificates of competency that they can use for their future jobs,” Acas said during her speech at the graduation ceremony.
Acas said the Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion in the area helped TESDA in choosing the participants for the mobile training laboratory.
Village chief Dante Tumanding of Barangay Tumanding in Arakan town expressed gratitude for the TESDA training program. He said it was the first time that a government agency provided them training for them to "become productive citizens and have dignified sources of income."
“For the past 45 years, we have not received such programs and only TESDA reached our community and gave us hope and skills,” Tumanding said in the vernacular.
During his recent visit to Region 12, TESDA Director General Isidro Lapeña vowed to make TESDA's technical-vocation courses accessible for all.
Lapeña said the agency's motto, “TESDA Abot Lahat”, reflects the agency's commitment to reach marginalized sectors in the country.
From January to date, about 886 members of Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and rebel returnees have availed of various TESDA programs in the region. (PNA)
NoCot ex-NPAs complete TESDA training
By Edwin Fernandez
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