Cuneta Astrodome, Pasay City
6 October 2015

President Benigno S. Aquino III acknowledged the success of the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) program being implemented by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) at the Pagpupugay sa mga TESDA Iskolar event held at the Cuneta Astrodome, Pasay City.

In his speech, the President congratulated the TESDA scholars whose lives have greatly improved. Among them are Merryll Lhorvin Santos, a visual graphic designer; Cristina Reyes, a former overseas Filipino worker who finished a Massage Therapy course and became a National Certificate II holder; and Renji Arcilla, who presently works at the Ubeda Manpower Training Center, Inc.

“Patunay lang po ito, ang ipinangako natin, tinutupad natin hindi lamang sa salita, kundi sa gawa. Sa pamamagitan ng pagsasanay na tumatagal ng ilang buwan, agad tayong makakapaglatag ng disente at marangal na kabuhayan sa napakaraming Pilipino,” President Aquino said.

He also lauded TESDA Director-General Joel Villanueva for his honesty and diligence while serving the agency and the public. “Hindi ako nagtatakang marami ang bilib sa kakayahan niya, dahil sa totoo lang, marami na siyang napatunayan, at papatunayan pa,” the President added.

TESDA, one of the government agencies that aggressively promotes inclusive growth, offers various scholarship programs. These include the Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) that already produced 877,943 graduates; the Private Education Student Financial Assistance (PESFA) that has a total of 127,232 graduates; and the Special Training for Employment Program (STEP) with 43,500 graduates.

From a Php 2.8 billion budget in 2010, the Aquino administration doubled TESDA’s funding to Php 5.3 billion in 2015.

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