500 workers finish training in Cebu for bus rapid transit

Scholars of the government’s technical skills training attend the awarding of certificates during their graduation rites held at a mall in Cebu City. They were assured of employment in the construction of the Cebu BRT and Monorail projects. INQUIRER PHOTO/DALE ISRAEL

CEBU CITY –– Some 500 construction and skilled workers finished their short training courses in Cebu on Tuesday as they gear up to be employed in the Build, Build, Build Project of the government.

The trained workers will be hired for the infrastructure needs of the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit project which would start construction next year, said Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino during the “mass” graduation rites organized by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

The workers are trained for free in various fields of construction, carpentry, metal works, plumbing, and welding.

Others also took skills in operating heavy equipment like bulldozers, tower crane, excavators, and hydraulics.

“We look forward to transforming the lives of our poor but determined Filipino families,” Dino said.

“We dream that our graduate-beneficiaries, that includes all 500 of you, would be able to contribute to nation-building, as you channel your youthful energies to productive endeavors that sustain our economy,” he said.

Some of the scholarship beneficiaries were also trained in private Technical and Vocational Institutions in Cebu Province.

Dino assured the workers that they would be preferred in the construction of his proposed monorail system of Cebu.

The project is still in the planning stage but government planners said it would form part of the Cebu Integrated Intermodal Transport System.

“We have this monorail project from Danao to Carcar. There is also Cebu to Mandaue up to the airport. We will start building it next year. Now, who will be hired for that? It is all of you,” said Dino in his speech.

The ceremonies today included the first batch of graduates under the “Train To Build, Build, Build Project” of TESDA created in March 2018 to cater to the needs of the Duterte administration’s infrastructure program.

Also present in the graduation rites were the members of the Cebu Construction Association who assured the graduates of employment in some of the projects.

The association president, Petrious Dakay, told the graduates that the construction boom in Cebu needs workers more than ever./lzb