DRAFT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND HIGHLIGHTS REPORT ILO-EU STRENGTHEN - PDF document

DRAFT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND HIGHLIGHTS REPORT ILO-EU STRENGTHEN (Trade and Employment) Project Inception Workshop Group Discussions from 6 to 7 October 2016, Century Park Hotel, Manila Overview The International Labour Organization (ILO) Country Office for the Philippines, with the support of the European Union (EU), launched and conducted the inception workshop of its Project on Strengthening the Impact of Trade and Employment in the Philippines (STRENGTHEN), from 6 to 7 October 2016, at the Century Park Hotel, Manila, which was attended by representatives and officials from government, labor, business, the academe and the civil society, among others. Day 1 Presentations and Breakout Sessions Picture 1 (from L to R): Mr David Cheong, ILO trade and employment specialist; Mr Walter van Hattum, head of economic and trade section of the EU Delegation to the Philippines; DTI Director Lydia Guevarra; DOLE Assistant Secretary Alex Avila; and ILO Philippines Country Director Khalid Hassan

The theme for Day 1 centered on trade, employment, decent work and national development. The two-day workshop formally began with a keynote message read by Assistant Secretary Alex A. Avila in behalf of the Honourable Silvestre H. Bello III, Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Meanwhile, Director Lydia R. Guevarra of the Resource Generation and Management Service (RGMS) delivered her message of support for the STRENGTHEN Project in behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). On the one hand, the European Union (EU) Delegation to the Philippines’ message of support was delivered by Mr Walter van Hattum, head of the EU’s economic and trade section. On the other hand, Mr Khalid Hassan, ILO Philippines country director, welcomed all the participants of the STRENGTHEN Project inception workshop. After the opening ceremonies, the plenary morning sessions followed immediately. Presentation 1 on the growth prospects and outlook of the Philippine economy was delivered by Director Brenda Joyce R. Mendoza of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-Trade, Services and Industry Staff (TSIS). This was followed by Presentation 2 on decent work, trade and employment policy in the Philippines, which was given by Director Adeline T. De Castro of the DOLE Planning Service, who provided updates o n Secretary Bello’s 8 -point labor and employment agenda. On the other hand, Presentation 3 on Philippine exports growth and the integration of Filipino micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) into the global value chains was presented by Director Senen M. Perlada of the DTI-Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), who discussed new opportunities, innovations and strategies as to how Philippine exports and MSME firms can become more productive and competitive. As a follow through, during the panel discussion, Assistant Director Agnes Perpetua Legaspi also gave a presentation that further elaborated on the preceding presentation of Director Perlada on Philippine exports vis-à-vis its other competitors in the region such as Vietnam. Among those who sat during the panel discussions were Deputy Executive Director Emmarita Z. Mijares of the Export Development Council (EDC) and Mr Alan Tanjusay of the Associated Labor Unions (ALU), representing the labor sector

and workers’ groups that were present during Day 1. The panel discussion was moderated by Dr Rene E. Ofreneo. Picture 2 (from L to R): Dr Rene Ofreneo, moderating the Day 1 panel discussion, with DTI-EMB Assistant Director Agnes Legaspi, EDC Deputy Executive Director Emmarita Z. Mijares, and Mr Alan Tanjusay of the Associated Labor Unions, representing the labor groups present during the workshop. After the panel discussion and open forum, Mr David Cheong then proceeded to give the global updates on the STRENGTHEN Project, which is also being implemented in five (5) other countries, aside from the Philippines, such as Myanmar, Guatemala, Benin, Ghana and Morocco. In the afternoon, Dr Rene E. Ofreneo, the workshop facilitator, supervised the discussions and gave some guidelines for the breakout sessions. The participants were divided into two groups: Group A and Group B. Group A was tasked to identify knowledge gaps concerning trade and employment while Group B was tasked to identify the export sector and value chain that co uld be enrolled in the STRENGTHEN Project’s Trade and Value Chains in Employment-Rich Activities (TRAVERA) programme. Group A was co-chaired by OIC-Executive Director Maria Celeste J. Valderrama of the DOLE-Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) and Executive Director Nestor Palabyab of the DTI-Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC) while Group B was co-chaired by Ms Rafaelita Castro of the DTI-EMB, and Dr Rene E. Ofreneo.

Day 2 Presentations and Breakout Sessions For Day 2, the theme of the workshop now focused on human resource and skills development in the export sector, service exports and movement of natural persons. A recap of what had been discussed the previous day as summarized by Dr Rene E. Ofreneo was presented briefly by Mr Bryan M. Balco, the STRENGTHEN national project coordinator. Director Evariste Cagatan of the DTI-Board of Investments (BOI) gave the first presentation for Day 2 on industry-based human resource (HR) skills and competencies that are needed to boost the competitiveness of the export sector. Director Cagatan also presented the BOI’s industry roadmaps and the DOLE’s HR roadmaps, which were a response to the BOI industrial blueprints. Meanwhile, Executive Director Marissa R. Legaspi of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)-Planning Office (PO) then followed and gave a presentation on TESDA’s efforts to develop industry -based HR skills and competencies for export competitiveness, especially the certification of skills and conduct of training activities that can support and boost export development. Following the first set of presentations on export skills and competencies, a panel discussion and open forum followed. Sitting with Director Cagatan and Executive Director Legaspi were Mr Oliver Mondigo of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), representing all the labor groups present during Day 2, and Atty Ranulfo Payos of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP). Afterwards, the second set of presentations followed through. Director Levinson Alcantara of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) gave a presentation on the overseas employment situation of the Philippines, not only in terms of deployment and recruitment but also in terms of the bilateral labor agreements that the Philippines has entered into. Director Alcantara’s presentation was complemented by Mr Jose Sandoval of the DOLE- Bureau of Local Employment’s (BLE) presentation on th e movement of natural persons, which also tackled trade in services agreements, bilateral labor agreements and the entry of foreign professionals in the Philippines that could also mean bringing new sets of knowledge, information-sharing and skills into the country. The last presentation for Day 2 was given by Mr Lord Louis P. Valera of the

Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), who discussed the regulation of professional workers in the country. In the afternoon, the participants were divided into two groups again: Group C and Group D. Most of the participants were asked to join Group C, which will tackle the export sector and skills that would be enrolled in the STRENGTHEN Project’s Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification (STED) programme. Group C was facilitated by Mr Noel Cuevas of TESDA. On the other hand, Group D, whose task was to discuss the creation of the Policy Working Group (PWG) for trade and employment, was more compact and smaller, as only select senior representatives and director-level officials from government, labor and business were invited to join the discussion group. Members of Group D consisted of the following officials and senior representatives from the DOLE (represented by the Institute for Labor Studies and Bureau of Local Employment), DTI (represented by Resource Generation and Management Service and Philippine Trade Training Center), NEDA (represented by the Trade, Services and Industry Staff), Federation of Free Workers (FFW), Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), Associated Labor Unions (ALU), Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), Public Service Labor Independent Confederation (PSLink), and the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS).