Country’s biggest bus firm taps Tesda for drivers’ training

Arthur Abellero, a Mindanao Star Bus Transport Inc. driver, during the training for drivers of Yanson Group of Bus Companies at the Rural Transit Mindanao Inc. headquarters in Barangay Bulua, Cagayan de Oro. JIGGER J. JERUSALEM

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A bus conglomerate touted to be the biggest in the country has teamed up with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and other government agencies to train more than a thousand drivers in Mindanao this year.

The Yanson Group of Bus Companies (YGBC) has tapped Tesda for driver training and to promote passenger safety, said Jomar Colinares, skills enhancement and learning center coordinator of the Rural Mindanao Transit Inc. (RTMI).

Colinares said YGBC drivers may already be skilled, but more training would ensure road safety for passengers and the drivers themselves.

One of YGBC’s subsidiary bus companies, RTMI, operates in Mindana along with the Mindanao Star Bus Transport Inc. and Bachelor Express Inc.

The late Ricardo Yanson, the YGBC founder, started the driver’s training program in mid-2000s in Bacolod City, the conglomerate’s main headquarters.

Tesda training officer Alex Sabella (second from left) during the drivers’ enhancement training at the Rural Transit Mindanao Inc. headquarters in Barangay Bulua, Cagayan de Oro. JIGGER J. JERUSALEM

While in the past, drivers from Mindanao were made to travel to Bacolod to train, now they no longer have to do so as the YGBC management decided to bring the training to its subsidiaries here.

YGBC has branches in the Mindanao cities of Dipolog, Pagadian, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan and Davao.

Upon the completion of the one-week seminar and workshop drivers will be issued the national driving certification III by Tesda, a document attesting to their advanced driving competency, Colinares said.

During the training, the drivers are given modular courses on stress management, moral values, self-awareness, customer service, safety awareness, emergency response, and traffic rules and regulations to be given by Tesda, the Philippine Red Cross, Phil. National Police, and Land Transportation Office.