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| SIPAG workers from Pasay City take a fulfilling first look at their TESDA certificates. |
Seventy-five construction workers received certificates of competence from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) during the 2011 general assembly of the Kaibigang Maaasahan Multipurpose Cooperative and Covenant Community Service Cooperative. About half of the men are former street dwellers while are the rest are husbands, sons, or brothers of community partners in the micro-finance program of the Center for Community Transformation (CCT) Group of Ministries. They live in Taguig, Muntinlupa, Pasay, Manila and Quezon City.
The workers underwent TESDA assessment as part of Sikhay sa Paggawa (SIPAG), a project being overseen by CCT and run in partnership with TESDA , the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) with funding from the Alagad Party List. TESDA certificates are awarded only to workers who can perform to standards expected in the global workplace.
Former Representative Diogenes Osabel, president of the Alagad Party List, said the SIPAG project is a bridge between local home-owners and TESDA, DTI, and CCT. He said there is a demand for trustworthy workers in local communities. “Building the confidence and capacity of workers is part of our fight, by non-violent means, against poverty. We want to be part of shaping the future,” he said.
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| Alagad Party List President Diogenes Osabel |
Atty. Ted Pascua, TESDA deputy director general for operations, said society must not look down on construction workers because, “We all have a place under the sun.” In encouraging the men to have a vision beyond their construction work he told the familiar story of the three bricklayers. “Be like the bricklayer who said he was building a cathedral,” he said. To CCT and SIPAG project workers he said, “Build on what you have started. Your efforts will be blessed.”
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| Atty. Ted Pascua, TESDA deputy director general for operations |
In a message based on the beatitudes, Pastor EJ del Mundo, head pastor for the CCT Group of Ministries,said “God wants to bless you spiritually, not just materially.” He told the former street dwellers, “Kung ikaw ay taong kalye nung dumating si Jesus, malamang kasama ka niya. (If you were a street dweller when Jesus came [to dwell among us], it's likely that you would have been among his companions.)”
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| Pastor EJ del Mundo, CCT Group head pastor |
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| KMMC members sing of God's love. |
Charlie Galas, former street dweller who was certified for masonry and carpentry skills, said he would do his best to repay the kindness shown him by CCT.
For information on the CCT Group of Ministries, its programs
and target beneficiaries, please visit www.cct.org.ph/new/.
