Billions for Skills, but Where Are the Jobs?

By Rep. Arthur C. Yap

The author represents Murang Kuryente Party-list in the House of Representatives. He served as Secretary of Agriculture, Presidential Adviser for Job Creation, three-term Representative of Bohol’s 3rd District and Governor of Bohol.
Last November 5, I sat on the labor-sector panel of the One NCR Education Summit at the Manila Hotel, convened by the Metro Manila offices of DepEd, CHED and TESDA. The question put to me was simple: as jobs change with automation and artificial intelligence, what should a fair system for retraining workers look like, and what should government guarantee them?

That same question is now knocking on our doors in Central Visayas.

The numbers are sobering. The Philippine Statistics Authority reports that unemployment in Central Visayas rose to 3.8 percent in 2025, leaving about 115,000 of our people jobless. By July this year, the regional rate had climbed to 6.3 percent. In May, our region posted the highest inflation in the country, at 10.8 percent. Our manufacturing sector has been hit by US tariffs, and our call centers and back offices face the steady pressure of AI.

Yet I told the summit that our problem is not a lack of tools. As Secretary of Agriculture during the 2008 global food crisis, and as Governor of Bohol through COVID and Super Typhoon Odette, I learned that what is missing in a crisis is rarely the program. It is the speed and urgency with which we use it.

Consider what government already spends. This year TESDA received nearly ₱19 billion for scholarships, the largest in its history. Together, DepEd, CHED, TESDA and DOLE hold more than a trillion pesos this year. What are all these billions for, unless we turn them into one harmonized program that trains hundreds of thousands of learners and shepherds them to secure jobs?

The data presented at the summit showed the gap. In Metro Manila, 82 percent of technical-vocational trainers teach only the entry-level NC I and NC II, while employers say they need electricians, welders and caregivers. We are training, but not always for the jobs that exist. Hindi tayo dapat magsanay para lang magsanay.

So here is my food for thought for DOLE-7, TESDA-7, CHED-7 and DepEd-7: four steps that need no new law, no new office and no new money, with results we can see within a year.

Una: patunayan muna bago sanayin. Let the PESO in every city and town offer a free skills assessment before any course, so that workers who already have the skill get the certificate first.

Ikalawa: isang listahan, isang resulta. Keep one shared record across the four agencies of who was trained, who was certified and who was placed. What we do not measure, we cannot improve, and we cannot defend at budget time.

Ikatlo: TUPAD bilang tulay. DOLE’s emergency employment program should be a bridge, not a revolving door. The Commission on Audit has flagged, year after year, beneficiaries who availed twice. Let a share of TUPAD days double as supervised training under TESDA-registered programs, so the worker leaves with a certificate, not just a paycheck.

Ikaapat: laging bukas ang pinto pabalik. The displaced call center agent, the factory worker laid off by tariffs, the OFW coming home: each must be able to return for retraining, as often as the economy demands.

Behind these steps is a simple division of labor. DepEd and TESDA build the base skills and certify them. CHED lifts up those suited for higher learning. DOLE bridges what our LGUs and the national employment plan say we need. Industry, government and our LGUs place our people, here or abroad. And we should steer as many as we can into the sectors that build the nation: power, food, health and construction. Affordable, reliable electricity sits beneath them all.

Next year’s budget may be tighter. That is all the more reason to converge, to use every peso, and to let the results make the case for more.

Mga kababayan, hindi natin hawak ang AI o ang presyo ng langis. Pero hawak natin kung gaano tayo kabilis kumilos. Ang hamon ay hindi kawalan ng programa o ng pondo. Ang hamon ay ang ating sama-samang pagkilos, ngayon na.

The author represents Murang Kuryente Party-list in the House of Representatives. He served as Secretary of Agriculture, Presidential Adviser for Job Creation, three-term Representative of Bohol’s 3rd District and Governor of Bohol.

At the One NCR Education Summit called by TESDA, DEPED and CHED, November 5, 2026