TACLOBAN CITY - Japan Automaker Isuzu Motors Limited (IML) formally opened yesterday the P130 million Auto Mechanic Training Center at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) regional office here in the bid to upgrade the skills of young Filipinos in automotive technical training.
IML Chairman Yoshinori Ida said that this will capacitate out of school youth to be competitive in car making just like in Japan. The first batch has 30 scholars coming from economically-depressed areas of the country under the Plan Philippines Program.
The facility houses a two-storey 1,656 square meter workshop, 160-bed capacity dormitory for boys and girls, cafeteria, multi-purpose covered court, complete set of training equipments and tools for workshops. The training equipments to include vehicles costs P39 million.
“This project is for children that are in need of support and development in developing nations. Isuzu already initiated this project in Indonesia and Vietnam,” Ida said in a media gathering.
Isuzu will be involved in training in the next two years. Scholars will have automotive national certificate level I to IV.
“It is my dream that this will be the best auto mechanic center in the Philippines. We will be responsible in providing high skills. This will deserve workers to be paid with stable wages in the future,” Ida added.
Plan Philippines Country Director Michael Diamond said that they got 1,012 applicants from provinces of Occidental Mindoro, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Western, Masbate, Cebu and Southern Leyte.
“This project truly opens door to poor but highly deserving students from areas where Plan works. With this, young people from some of the most depressed provinces in the country are given hope for a better and brighter future,” Diamond said.
The top three scholars will be hired by Isuzu Motors for their automaking plant in Japan. The rest of the scholars are free to work in other car manufacturers.
“Lives of deserving young Filipino people who are not as privileged as others in terms of resources will be uplifted through this project which is part of our corporate social responsibility,” Ida stressed.
One of the beneficiaries, Marlon Garcia, 18, of Brgy. Poypoy, a remote village of Calintaan town in Occidental Mindoro, said that he was grateful for this project considering that his mother has no money to send him to school. His father passed away during his childhood days.
“I can pursue my education now. When I graduated last March, I never expected that I can continue my studies,” Garcia told Leyte Samar Daily Express.
Isuzu Philippines Corp. recently donated one NHR passenger van and IML of Japan gave one Crosswind XTi prior to the opening of training center.
Isuzu Motors chose the country as the beneficiary of this training center considering that “37% of the country’s population lives below the poverty line, with some three million young people unable to receive education.”
According to Isuzu, the training will fill the poverty gap with the growing demand for auto technicians as the country registers more than five million motor vehicles each year.
TESDA regional director Juan Sabulao said that in its second year of operation, the training center would also upgrade skills of workers who have been in the automotive industry for many years now. “The center will be opened during evenings and weekends to accommodate to retrain workers.”
The training center is an “Isuzu Heart & Smile Project,” an integral part of the Japanese carmaker’s campaign to mark its 70th inaugural anniversary early this year. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO)
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