Sec. Mamondiong: No IP rejected

Secretary Guiling “Gene” Mamondiong of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) said that under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, no member of the indigenous peoples (IP) groups will be left marginalized.

“Technical-vocational education shall be open to all IPs, no one will be rejected to the free education,” said Sec. Mamondiong during the dialogue with Muslim and IP groups attended by more than 300 participants from Regions I, II and CAR and held on February 21, 2018 in Baguio City.

Similarly, TESDA Deputy Director General Alvin Feliciano said that the current administration and TESDA leadership has made efforts to reach the people at the grassroots level and is actively collaborating with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to ensure that these programs will reach the people.

“Special sectors like indigenous peoples now share with the government in the planning and realization of their development path,” said DDG Feliciano.

Sec. Mamondiong added that education is the great equalizer and the administration has made it a priority to provide education to the IPs through the National Integration Scholarship Program. TESDA will put up “skills training courts” in each province in coordination with the NCIP, and train the IP leaders to become trusted trainers to their own people and hire them on job order basis if necessary.

“TESDA will give you the service that you deserve,” said Sec. Mamondiong, adding that IPs, who were once called cultural minorities, may now define what it means to be an IP in the new Constitution once federalism will be approved and implemented.

(Director General Guiling "Gene" Mamondiong (7th from left) together with the TESDA regional and provincial directors of regions I, II, and CAR. Photo by Bernice Lee)