CDC inks pact to boost Clark employment

CLARK FREEPORT, Philippines – The Clark Development Corp. (CDC) and the Public Employment Services Offices of Tarlac and Pampanga have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) that aims to boost employment generation at the Clark Freeport.

CDC president Benigno Ricafort signed the MOA together with Tarlac PESO Manager’s Association president Arnold Samson, Pampanga PESO Manager’s Association president Luningning Vergara, Department of Labor and Employment-Region 3 division chief Alex Inza Cruz, and Clark Investors and Locators Association (CILA) executive vice president Darwin Malinit.

Ricafort said the MOA allows the CDC and its partner-agencies to easily facilitate employment generation through four core development goals: after-sales support service to Clark locators, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and parallel development, and participative management.

“This partnership with the PESO is expected to pave the way for the so-called convergence to evolve and become bigger as more partners, both from the government and private sector, are being sought to take part in this network all in the name of facilitating job generation for our people,” Ricafort said.

Under the MOA, the PESO associations shall provide CDC a monthly report on available manpower according to age range, gender, education, and experience.

It also requires the PESO associations to provide a pre-screened list of qualified applicants to CDC for endorsement to Clark Freeport locators.

“Both the CDC and the PESO associations shall undertake to link up an online common database using a single entry system of applicants to ensure availability of a pool of applicants,” the MOA said.

CDC customer service department manager Rodem Perez said the state-owned corporation aims to take advantage of technology in fast-tracking the application and screening process by linking PESO partners to its existing online job application and electronic referral system.

Perez said, “With this endeavor we are hoping to eventually replace the tedious and manual system of accepting job applications and processing their referral to locators on a daily basis.”

The system, Perez added, is convenient and cost-effective to locators, jobseekers, and the CDC since the application forms are available online and could be sent via e-mail.

The CDC, CILA, and the PESO associations signed the agreement during the opening of the Clark Freeport Job Fair 2009 held recently at The Event Center of SM Clark.

Thousands of jobseekers flocked to the job fair, which offered more than 3,000 job openings available in at least 32 Clark-based firms.