GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/10 February) — Labor personnel in Region 12 are targeting to complete this year the continuing rollout of its enhanced computerized skills registry system (SRS) in the entire region.
Jemeia Mae Eslabon, planning officer of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Region 12, said Monday the initial preparations are underway for the expansion of the SRS in the coming weeks in Lutayan and Palimbang towns in Sultan Kudarat.
She said the two municipalities are the only remaining areas that have yet to adopt the program, which is now on its fifth year of implementation in the region.
“Our goal is to achieve 100 percent rollout of the SRS in the entire region before the end of the year,” she said.
Region 12, which is also known as the Soccsksargen Region, is composed of 45 municipalities and five cities.
The region covers the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, North Cotabato and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.
SRS, a key component of DOLE’s job generation program, is a repository of manpower information used by the agency in circulating job opportunities within a specific area when demands arise and become available.
A DOLE briefer said the registry features a roster of active manpower supply that shows information on the qualifications and skills of registrants that were either acquired in school or gained through experience.
“With a computerized system, this registry of skills can be readily accessed by clients or interested parties through an information highway that is available all throughout the country. In addition, a database on job posting of employers shall also be maintained and be made available to indicate the current demand for labor,” it said.
The skills registry may be readily accessed by employers through the Phil-Jobnet website, which serves as the government’s main job portal.
Eslabon said three cities in the region — General Santos, Koronandal and Kidapawan — initially adopted the production during its first wave of implementation in 2010.
She said six areas comprising the cities of Tacurong and Cotabato and the municipalities of Midsayap in North Cotabato, Polomolok and Surallah in South Cotabato and Alabel in Sarangani were added to the list in 2011.
The computerized SRS expanded to 12 more municipalities in 2012 and 27 more last year, she said.
Eslabon said they included the barangays in the expansion of SRS in the last four years as a strategy to reach out to more job seekers in the region.
As of end-2013, she said they have already covered a total of 1,528 barangays and registered 56,698 skilled jobseekers in Region 12 into the SRS.
She said the pertinent data on these job seekers are now available at the Phil-Jobnet website for possible job matching and evaluation by employers.
As of December 2013, Eslabon said they have already registered a total of 495 establishments in the region into the Phil-Jobnet website.
She said 331 of these establishments have so far posted a total of 35,447 job vacancies.
Eslabon said the KCC Mall of Gensan here posted the most number of job vacancies last year with 1,758, followed by Princeton Construction and Engineering Services in Koronadal City with 950 and Gaisano Grand Mall in Kidapawan City with 870. (MindaNews)