Pangasinan school in hot water over OJT irregularity case

PANGASINAN State University student Dahrel dela Cruz has been confined at the Pangasinan Doctors Hospital in San Carlos City for a sickness linked to his supposed on-the-job training work for a Laguna company. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) ordered the Pangasinan State University (PSU) to shed light on claims that the school had allowed a manpower agency to deploy students to a Laguna firm as contractual workers, instead of on-the-job trainees (OJT).

The order came after an admission made on Thursday by PSU president Dexter Buted that the school had no memorandum of agreement with the job placement firm, JIF Manpower and Referral Services, which would have authorized it to handle the school’s internship program.

A committee was formed by the Pangasinan provincial board to look into the plight of Dharel de la Cruz, a business administration student who fell ill after working in a pharmaceutical firm in Laguna province.

READ: Signs of OJT irregularities surface after student turns whistle-blower

Cherrie Melanie Diego, CHEd Ilocos director, also formed a task force to investigate De la Cruz’s case, said Rey Agcaoili, CHEd education supervisor.

He said Diego had required Buted to submit a report on De la Cruz’s claim that JIF facilitated the employment of 43 students at the pharmaceutical firm as contractual workers.

Earlier, De la Cruz said the job placement firm owner and manager, Joyce Finuliar, had told students to keep quiet about their real status in the pharmaceutical company.

Finuliar could not be found in her company address in Barangay Quezon in San Carlos City. She was absent from the provincial board inquiry on June 2.

De la Cruz said he fell ill when he was exposed to chemicals at the firm. He has been confined at the intensive care unit of the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital in San Carlos City.

Agcaoili said under a CHEd memorandum order issued in July 2009, universities like PSU are required to draw up agreements with companies that would accept on-the-job trainees.

But during the provincial board hearing, Buted admitted that PSU did not have any formal agreement with JIF.

Buted said JIF has been associated with PSU for more than three years, making it a “credible” company.

His job as university president was “ministerial,” he said. Buted, a former Batangas provincial board member, was appointed PSU president in
December 2014.

“What I’m saying is that we have to further improve the system. We’re still in the mode of transition. So, we are injecting intervention to improve the services of the university,” he said.

Buted also challenged De la Cruz’s credibility, saying the student forged his father’s signature in the parents’ consent form that was required by the student internship program.

He also presented two graduating students, who countered De la Cruz’s claim. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon