by Michael Vincent D. Cajulao
ZAMBOANGA
CITY, May 2 (PIA) – Over a thousand job seekers trooped to the
Western Mindanao State University yesterday for the Labor Day Job Fair
spearheaded by the Department of Labor and Employment.
In a data given by DOLE-9, there
were 1,242 individuals who registered for the activity in Zamboanga City alone.
These job hunters were also interviewed by participating recruitment agencies
and local establishments here.
Ms. Sheryl Joaquin, Labor and
Employment III of DOLE -9, said the figure carries the bulk of registrants in
Zamboanga Peninsula.
“We also conducted the same activity
in Pagadian City, but there is a lesser number of registrants there. All in
all, we have 1,547 registrants in the region”, Ms. Joaquin said.
Out of the regional figure, there
were 992 job seekers who qualified after the initial interview.
However, there were many applicants
in Pagadian City who were hired on the spot (HOTS).
“We have 298 hired on the spot.
Zamboanga City has 104 HOTS, the remaining comes from Pagadian City”, Joaquin
pointed.
DOLE-9 is elated to meet their HOTS
target of 15% for this year’s job fair hitting 19%.
Ms. Jasmine Cinco, Information
Officer of DOLE-9, said they are happy with active participation of recruitment
agencies and local establishments in Zamboanga City.
“We have around 50 agencies who
participated in the job fair. 30 of those are local and 20 overseas placement
agencies”, Ms. Cinco said.
Cinco said there 13,000-14,000 jobs
available for region 9, with top jobs coming from the manufacturing sector,
insurance and lending agencies, service crews, sales and marketing, and household
service workers. There were also medical professionals needed like nurses and
medical transcriptionists, most of these jobs are abroad.
“We have more than 13,000 jobs for
abroad. The job destinations are Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Malaysia,
Singapore and Brunei”, Cinco said.
Aside from the job fair, DOLE-9 also
conducted livelihood and diskwento fairs as part of the celebration.
The Technical Education Skills
Development Authority (TESDA) handled the livelihood fair, giving free
orientation and skills demonstration for those who want to venture in
entrepreneurship.
The Diskwento fair, on the other
hand, gave consumers a chance to buy basic commodities or products at
discounted or lesser price.
The activity was attended by
Zamboanga City Representative Ma. Isabelle Climaco, Vice Mayor Cesar Iturralde,
and private sector leaders like Engr. George Ledesma, President of the
Industrial Group of Zamboanga, Inc. (IGZI), Regional Tripartite Board members
Mr. Edgar Lim and Buboy Valerio, representing the employers/ private sector,
and Mr. Jose Suan of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines representing
the labor sector. (MVC/PIA9-ZBST)
