To further harness the skills of its graduates and provide employment opportunities for them, Virginia Institute of Technology (VIT) of Hilongos, Leyte recently forged synergy with Aboitiz Construction Group, Inc. (METAPHIL), one of the most reliable industrial contractors in the country.
This move is also in response to the “increasing demand for more skilled workers especially welders in the shipbuilding industry which, in turn, will boost the economy of the country,” said VIT founder and former Hilongos mayor Jose Emery Roble. Also called the Education to Employment system or E2E, it had been the project of the former mayor which he implemented in his term from 2010 to 2013 where more than 300 students in region 8 enrolled in various vocational TESDA courses were granted job opportunities after graduation.
Roble and METAPHIL vice president and chief information officer Zenaida Novabos signed a memorandum of agreement last July 22 at the METAPHIL office in Mandaue City to formalize the said partnership. The memorandum stipulates the inclusion of 1000 VIT graduates taking up the 45-day TESDA-accredited shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) program in METAPHIL’s pool priority list annually for two years or more depending on the demand for manpower.
Qualified graduates will be provided with employment benefits and compensation such as a starting salary of not lower than the minimum wage of the occupational area where they will be deployed, insurance coverage, SSS, PhilHealth, and overtime pay. These students must pass the NC II exam first to make it to the priority list.
Since its foundation in 2014, VIT has been supplying experienced welders for Mactan Shipyard, Roble Shipping, Medallion Transport, Nagasaka Shipyard, Sandoval Shipyard, and Colorado Shipyard. With this new partnership, more pool of manpower trained to work in the maritime industry is expected to be employed not only in the shipyards in the country but also to countries abroad such as Australia, Canada, UAE, and Japan where demand for more workers are high.