IATF allows face-to-face technical skills training for outbound OFWs

MANILA, Philippines — The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has allowed face-to-face technical skills training for outbound Filipino migrant workers.

Face-to-face training and assessments by technical-vocational institutions and TESDA Technology Institutions for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) heading abroad are now permitted in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) or lower, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Friday.

“This forms part of our assistance to workers who already have employment opportunities.  These include training and assessments for domestic work, caregiver, housekeeping qualifications, and ship’s catering,” said Roque, who is also the official IATF mouthpiece.

The Palace official likewise announced that dive establishments in specific areas under GCQ or modified GCQ, like Batangas and other areas as may be identified by the Department of Tourism (DOT) “may accept recreational divers as guests, who are from areas under GCQ or lower.”

“The DOT shall issue the necessary guidelines in coordination and consultation with the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Philippine National Police and the identified local government units,” Roque said.

The task force likewise directed its sub-Technical Working Groups on Data Analytics and Anticipatory and Forward Planning to convene a meeting “to formulate unified recommendations concerning guidelines applicable to areas that may eventually be placed under the New Normal, which will be aligned to the proposed National Action Plan Phase III of the National Task Force Against COVID-19.”

The meeting will be composed of health expert panels from the Department of Health Technical Advisory Group and Health Care Professionals’ Alliance Against COVID-19 as well as economic experts to balance health and economy.

KGA