A firm commitment by construction industry leaders in Davao City to Train, Train, Train In photo, Davao-based PCA master trainers (from left to right) Wilfredo Guerzon Jr., Carlito Cogal, and Ramon Allado at the first Pambansang Treyners ng Konstruksyon Program in Davao City last May 2019.
With the massive government infrastructure program “Build, Build, Build”, and with the property sector remaining to be robust, the Davao Constructors Association Center, Inc. (DCACI) is dealing with the issue of shortage of construction workers by training, not just for skills upgrading, but more importantly in increasing productivity.
As the local chapter of the Philippine Constructors Association (PCA), DCACI has been offering the PCA Construction Supervisors Training Program (CSTP) since last year in partnership with the PCA Foundation and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
According to PCA Foundation program director Anthony Mariano, DCACI has so far graduated and empowered 50 construction supervisors, and will be graduating another 50 this February. At a ratio of one supervisor to 50 workers, the one hundred supervisors will be able to impact the productivity of 5,000 workers, Mariano adds.
During the graduation of the first batch of supervisors from PCA-DCACI member firms who completed the program at Allado Construction in Davao City last November, PCA executive director Barry Paulino said that “we have just started”.
PCA and DCACI targets to train and empower some 800 Construction Site and Trade supervisors in Mindanao this year. To sustain this, PCA and DCACI started this week the training of the next batch of its Pambansang Treyners ng Konstruksyon that will bring to a total of 50 Davao-based trainers before the quarter ends. “We are planting trainers to ensure our industry’ sustainability”, Paulino adds.
One of the 8-point action programs of new PCA president Will Decena is for the expansion of talent and capacity building programs nationwide. This to support and enable the 10-year construction industry roadmap and its action plans, which PCA crafted together with the Department of Trade and Industry-Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines.
PCA’s Train-the-Trainers, and Construction Supervisors Training Program are internationally assured programs of the UK-based Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), and is supported by TESDA under its Memorandum of Agreement with PCA.
The PCA programs in Davao City are offered by PCA-DCACI member firms accredited by TESDA as an enterprise-based delivery site, and by PCA as a recognized training partner. So far, there are 3 partner sites in Davao, that includes aside from Allado Construction, LV Ledesma Construction, and FGM Builders with another one going on board this February.
PCA’s internationally-assured CSTP is also offered in Metro Manila, Cebu, and Dumaguete. With a target to train 2,000 nationwide this year, PCA will be opening new delivery sites in Metro Manila, Pampanga and Ormoc by the second quarter of the year. It is also working at opening additional sites in Mindanao to complete its target of 16 sites nationwide by second half of the year. As PCA Foundation president Anthony Fernandez said, “we have to unlock the future”.
With standardized and strict delivery standards, the program is run by PCA’s own national industry trainers from PCA members and chapter firms, with the first batch trained by Master Trainers from People1st of UK. So far PCA has 77 nationwide, with 44 qualified as Master Trainers. “We started from zero a year ago and grew this in 10 months. Our target for the year is to double this”, Mariano adds.
What makes the program stand out is that it is delivered by trainers and attended by learners from different firms who get to share and learn from each other. As we have seen from the 200 we have so far graduated across the country, at the end of the program, whether you are from an “AAAA” construction firm, or from one that is “B” you will have the same skill set. “It has been a great equalizer” says Earl Segales, CSTP project manager at PCA Foundation.
PCA completes the first phase of the second batch of its Pambansang Treyners ng Konstruksyon in Davao by PCA’s senior master trainer Rudy Menguita this Saturday at the DCACI training facility in Davao City.
