Sugar workers’ foundation wins Kabalikat Award

The NFSP Sugar Workers Foundation Inc. Technical Skills Training Center was granted the 2003 Kabalikat Award "by the Department of Labor and Employment and the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA)" in grateful recognition of the Foundation’s exemplary contribution in the advancement of technical vocational education and training in the country."

The Kabalikat Award is TESDA’s reward mechanism which gives due recognition and honor to institutions, local government units and private firms for their relevant contributions in the promotion and enhancement of technical vocational education and training (TVET) in the country.

The award was received by Arleen Baylon, executive secretary from the Makati office of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters during TESDA’s 9th anniversary celebration held at the Women’s Center, Taguig, Metro Manila last Aug. 28. TESDA’s theme for the celebration says it all: "TESDA at its Best: Pagkilala Sa Natatanging Kaagapay Ng TESDA Sa Pagsulong Ng Galing at Talinong Pinoy."

In 1999, the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP), through the initiative of its president Enrique D. Rojas, organized the foundation with the objective of "Nurturing Excellence in Technology Education," for the sugar workers and their dependents of planters associations affiliated with the federation. Beneficiaries of programs, implemented by the foundation include the out-of-school youth of the province and Bacolod City.

Rationale

The foundation’s long-term education program is its response to help arrest the poverty cycle in the sugar industry; also, to discharge its social responsibility in helping uplift the quality of life of these workers and their dependents.

In 1999, the NFSP conducted a skills training program which benefited 301 sugar workers and their dependents. This initial batch of graduates was equipped with skills in welding and steel fabrication, electrical trade and auto-diesel mechanics.

The successful implementation of this initial undertaking in skills training encouraged the NFSP to further open up opportunities to a greater number of sugar workers and their dependents to their employability. This is the justification for the construction of the foundation building in the year 2001 to ensure the continuity of the project which is now on its fifth year.

"Our pilot skills program in 1999, replete with values education, show us vividly that giving 301 workers and their dependents with expertise in computer education, welding and steel fabrication, electrical trade, auto-diesel mechanics, and plumbing can open opportunities. Ninety-two of our graduates are now overseas contract workers while a good percentage of them have been promoted to higher paying jobs in the sugar farms and a few have already set up their own shops. The successful implementation of our initial undertaking encouraged us to further expand our skills training project" added Rojas.