Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

DATE:

IS RFP a

Tine, A
Seventeenth Congress a F
First Regular Session wy,

House Bill No. 4453

Introduced by: REPRESENTATIVE ARTHUR C, YAP

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The high incidence of unemployment in the Philippines today is largely
attributable to ‘skills gaps or mismatch’ in many industries that makes it difficult for
employers to find the right workers for their needs. This mismatch problem spans job
categories ranging from the relatively low-skilled to highly specialized ones, and is seen
in both the private and public sectors. To address the issue, there is a need for training
institutions to be in close coordination with potential employers to guide the former in the
determination of skills that need to be developed that are most responsive to the needs of
the firms,

To achieve this objective, a skills certification program is necessary to assess and
profile the work-related skills of workers entering the workforce and determine their
work-related competencies identified by employers as required for entry-level
employment and career advancement. Currently, various institutions in the’ country have
generated and developed skills certification programs based on local and industry-
specific needs

For example, the Skills Certificate Equivalency Program (SCEP) is a
collaborative partnership between the Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority (TESDA) and the Civil Service Commission (CSC), which aims to grant civil
service eligibility to government skilled workers. It involves the issuance of
Competency Certificate to those who shall successfully demonstrated competence in
specific qu

This bill mandates the periodic evaluation of skills certification programs and to
determine which skills certifications are most desired by employers and employees. It
also aims to make information and materials about skills certification programs available
to cligible entities providing job trainings to facilitate the tuning of their training
programs to the needs of firms and employers.

For the foregoing reasons, the immediate consideration and approval of the bill is

earnestly urged

ATTY. ARTHUR C. YAP
Representative


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

Seventeenth Congress
First Regular Session

House Bill No, 4453,

Introduced by: REPRESENTATIVE ARTHUR C. YAP

AN ACT
MANDATING AND INSTITUTIONALIZING A COMPULSORY
EVALUATION OF SKILLS CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines inCongress
assembled.

SECTION 1. Title This Act shall be known as the ‘Skills Standard
Certification Evaluation Act”

SECTION — 2.Evaluation of Skills Standard Certification Process. - The
Secretary of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Secretary of Education (DepEd) and
the Director-General of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA), in consultation with each other through an inter-agency committee, shall
conduct evaluation of skills certification programs in order to:

4) Determine the best practices models for skills certification programs,

b) Rank the skills certification programs available in an industry based on the
evaluation criteria described in Section 3 hereof, and,

©) Make recommendations on the following,

1) ‘The merits of a unified approach to programs of ski

certification as compared
to multiple regional and local skills certification programs; and,
2) Ways to streamline, whenever practicable, duplicative and similar skills
certification into a single, widely recognized certification.
SECTION 3. Criteria for Evaluation. - The evaluation of the skills certification
programs under this Act shall be based on the following criteria:

1) Overall usefulness of the skills certification programs for workers and employers;


2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

=)

8)

The demand from industries for workers with the skills provided and certified

through the skills certification programs,

Industry involvement in the development of the skills standards included in the skills

certification programs;

Industry recognition of the certifications awarded under the skills certification

programs,

The success of the skills certification programs based on the criteria laid down in this

section, including:

a) The number of individuals who have successfully completed the skills
certification programs;

b) ‘The number of such individuals who are employed in their respective fields
utilizing the skills provided and certified through the skills certification
programs; and,

©) The length of time that such individuals have been so employed.

The level of recognition of the skills certification programs as of the time of
evaluations, including assessments of

a) How widespread the skills certification programs are used;

b) The number of entities, including institutions of higher leaning, that have used

the skills certification programs;

c) Whether the skills provided and certified through the skills certification

programs are reasonably and practically usefil
Cooperative cooperation in the development of the skills certification programs,
such as whether the standards of the skills certification programs were created in

consultation with relevant stakeholders, including business, labor, and community

organizations, and whether such stakeholders still support and use the said standards
The ease of sharing the skills certification programs, including the portability and the

versatility of the materials used, and whether the certification programs require the


educators to have access to specific or extensive materials or equipment not usually
found in classrooms.

SECTION 4.Information Dissemination - The inter-agency committee shall
post the results of the evaluations, the ranking of skills certification programs or the best
practices of such programs, and the recommendations, as described in Section 2 hereof,
on the Internet. Such information shall also be made available in print form to interested
parties, including technical colleges and institutions, organizations providing workers’
trainings, industries, and community organization.

SECTION 5. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - ‘The TESDA, in
consultation with the DepEd and the Department of Labor and the Senate Committee on
Labor and Employment and the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs, shall,

within sixty (60) days from the effectivity of this Act, issue the rules and regulations

ary for the effective implementation of this Act.

SECTION 6. Separability Clause. - \f any of the provisions of this Act is
declared invalid or unconstitutional, the remaining parts or provisions hereof not affected
thereby shall remain in full force and effect.

SE

TION 7. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders,
proclamations, rules and regulations, and issuances, or parts thereof, inconsistent with the
provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly

SECTION 8. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days
after its publication in at least two (2) national newspapers of general circulation.

Approved.