TESDA-NGCP Sets Benchmark on Linemen Profession

March 22, 2017

With the aim of taking the skills of power line workers to the next level as well as to further promote employment and propel the country’s economic growth, TESDA has found an ally in the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

In a Memorandum of Agreement signed between TESDA Director General Secretary Guiling “Gene” A. Mamondiong and NGCP President Henry Sy, Jr. last March 20 in Quezon City, the tech-voc Authority and the private corporation responsible for the country’s power transmission network, both vowed to “develop and review the Training Regulations (TRs) and Competency Assessment Tools for Transmission Line Installation and Maintenance”.

In his message, Secretary Mamondiong expressed his gratitude to NGCP on behalf of TESDA and explained how the upgrading of the Training Regulations directly influenced the quality of workers the country will be producing.

“A qualification’s TR is a policy in itself.  It is the basis for quality assurance of technical vocational education and training institutions in their program registration, and assessment and certification of Filipino workers.  The same TRs are being used to benchmark and compare the qualifications of our Filipino workers with that of other countries,” said the Secretary.

Mr. Sy, on the other hand, shared his views on the importance of the agreement to national development, “When power lines go down, it is the linesmen who go out, up the mountains and across the rivers just to bring the electricity back to thousands of households and industries.  While the maintenance of power lines lies in their hands, it is our responsibility to empower these everyday heroes.”

Primarily, the agreement seeks to review and upgrade the existing TRs and Competency Assessment tools of the Transmission Line and Installation and Maintenance NCII and NCIII qualifications.

Also present during the event were TESDA Executive Director Imee B. Taganas and NGCP Chief Administrative Officer Anthony L. Almeda who both acted as witnesses of the deal.