Regional Winners of ‘Idols ng TESDA’ 2014 Prove Training Gives Them Edge

(PNA) — Seven technical-vocational graduates who have been chosen as regional winners of Idols ng TESDA 2014 have shared their stories proving that the training they received from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) gives them edge in the workplace.

Although some of them are already degree holders, they still managed to earn skills training which they eventually perfected while doing their respective jobs.

These winners for the wage-employed category of the Idols ng TESDA 2014 are: King Pual Gabertan, Gina Faigao, Kenneth Lim, Edlyn Casal, Bayona Baon, Renante Gustilo and Ronnie Aboa.

Gabertan, who hails from Region 3 or Central Luzon, works as an instructor at the Tarlac School of Arts and Trade and at the ETO School of Science and Technology in Nueva Ecija.

He landed the job after finishing a two-year Hotel and Restaurant Services course and securing National Certificates in various training programs, namely: Food and Beverage Services, Housekeeping, Bartending, Commercial Cooking and Tour Guiding.

Dreaming of becoming a chef, the 24-year-old Gabertan counts his winning at the 2014 National Skills Competitions as one of his achievements that would get him closer to his aspiration. At a young age, he was awarded TESDA Best, Batang TESDA.

Meanwhile, Gina Faigao took a tech-voc course in Office Management and eventually earned a Bachelor in Elementary Education degree in 2006 in her native Oriental Mindoro in Region 4-B. In 2013, she also finished tech-voc courses on Food and Beverage Services and Bartending.

She has been an instructor at the Paradigm Colleges of Science and Technology since 2006 and also serves as career guidance coach in-charge of the Youth Profiling for Starring Careers program.

Faigao is also a pastor at the Libertad Assembly of God church since 1993.

Being involved into cooking and restaurant operations, Kenneth Lim, who is from Region 5, has already earned several National Certificates in Housekeeping, Food and Beverage Services, Commercial Cooking and Bartending prior to his completion of ladderized Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management course in 2012.

He has been a TESDA-certified trainer after taking additional short training programs. At present, he is taking up Master in Business course at the Osmena Colleges in Masbate.

Lim is now the head of the technical education and skills development department of Liceo de Masbate.

Edlyn Casal is a holder of National Certificates on PC Configuration and Troubleshooting and in Computer Hardware Servicing and Programming. With his skills, Casal was taken in by the 4WD Computer Training Center as instructor. He was instrumental in transforming the small training center into the Computer Hardware and Service Department of the Metro Dumaguete College.

Casal is now the chairman of the Tech-Voc Department of the college. He has obtained a degree in Information Technology and is completing his Master’s degree in the same field.

He is also active in advocating tech-voc education from which he frequently gives talks in his community and spearheads a community service program that provides computer maintenance for free.

Finishing a three-year diploma in Agricultural Technology course in 2010, Bayona Baon continued his studies in Bachelor of Agricultural Technology at the Misamis Oriental State College of Agriculture and Technology.

He was then taken in as a leaf technician for Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. for its Project Tabuk initiative. Impressed of his performance, the firm’s executives decided to send him to Italy to attend a training program on tobacco management, curing and technology.

Baon’s skills and perseverance have contributed to improving the firm’s tobacco crop quality, which he hopes would also benefit the farmers.

Having won gold medals in both regional and national competitions in Hairdressing, Renante Gustilo sees his achievements to have been due to his completion of a one-year Cosmetology course at the Joji Ilagan Career Center in 1996.

He has worked as a freelance fashion designer and hairdresser since 1998 and was also an instructor and program head at the center. He is among the incorporators of the A.B.A. Cosmetology Training Center in Tagum City.

Gustilo also earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Mindanao, and master’s degrees in Business Administration and Public Administration from the Southwestern University.

On the other hand, completing the list of regional winners is Ronnie Aboa who shared his experience being someone who comes from a poor family. He was able to secure a TESDA scholarship which allowed him to finish a two-year Diploma course in Computer and Electronics Technology course at STI San Francisco in Agusan del Sur.

A series of jobs followed after graduation in 2003 — at FC Consultancy and Resource Management Services, Agusan del Sur National High School Teachers and Employees Multi-purpose Cooperative and at STI San Francisco.

He also managed to earn a Bachelor of Science degree at the Saint Francis Xavier College and a few units of Master in Public Administration at the Bukidnon State University while balancing his time between studies and work.

In 2012, Aboa was hired as a permanent employee at the Irrigation Management Office of the National Irrigation Administration in Rosario, Agusan Del Sur, where he has been currently working since then. (PNA) SCS/JDM