TESDA’s Villanueva mulls Senate bid in 2016 election

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines  — Secretary Joel Villanueva, director-general of the Technical Educational and Skills Development Authority has admitted to the local media that he is now considering to run for a Senate seat in the 2016 elections.

Villanueva, who was in the city for the graduation on Monday of more than 2,000 TESDA scholars, made the pronouncement during a talk with reporters here. He said though that anything can happen by 2016, and another option for him may be to run again for a set in the House of Representatives or even retire from government service.

The TESDA official said he backed out of his senatorial plans in the 2013 polls, but this time he is confident for the same seat because he is qualified with a track record to speak of, such as his almost six years in the executive and almost nine years in Congress.

Meanwhile, Villanueva led the graduation rites of a total of 2,546 scholars of TESDA in Negros Oriental who completed their respective skills training, and distributed to them starter kits related to their finished courses.

Governor Roel Degamo, Vice Governor Mark Macias, some Provincial Board members and at least ten mayors attended the rites together with regional and provincial TESDA officials.

Of the total graduates, 1,761 were under the Training for Work Scholarship Program, 555 were with the Private Education Students’ Financial Assistance, 210 under the Special Training for Employment Program and 20 in the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Program.

They completed skills training on cookery, bartending, food and beverages, carpentry, masonry, plumbing, electrical installation, welding, driving, and computer hardware servicing, among others.

Villanueva, in his message, said TESDA continues to strengthen its trainings to address the ever-increasing employment needs overseas and to produce world-class skilled workers. Many overseas workers from Negros Oriental were graduates of TESDA and succeeded in raising their standards of living to a financially stable level.

Villanueva further said that TESDA is for everyone, including those persons with disabilities, one of whom was 44-year-old Condrado Bacod Jr., who was among the graduates by finishing computer hardware servicing under the community-based training program of the agency.   (FREEMAN)