Iloilo's PESO wins national award

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1011917
• Thursday, October 5, 2017 7:32 pm

By Cindy Ferrer (PNA)

ILOILO CITY -- The Public Employment and Service Office (PESO) of Iloilo Province was again recognized as best PESO at the national level for the first class province category during the national congress held in Cauayan City, Isabela on Wednesday.

Cynthia Dario, PESO-Iloilo Senior Labor and Employment Officer, received the award for the province.

PESO-Iloilo won the national award for the second consecutive year, besting six other nominees.

Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. said the achievement is the “pride of the province” and the result of the PESO chief Francisco Heler Jr’s outstanding performance. He congratulated the whole PESO staff.

“Many were assisted by the office and were provided with jobs here in Iloilo, in other parts of the country and even abroad, especially in the Middle East,” he said in a press conference on Thursday.

Heler vowed to continue their initiatives to further improve their services in terms of facilitating employment .

PESO-Iloilo was institutionalized in 2015 through the enactment of Provincial Ordinance No.‎2015-122, to help produce a globally competitive workforce by promoting equity in employment opportunities while maintaining quality in the delivery of its employment facilitation services in partnership with the national government agencies and non-government organizations.

Some core services and functions of PESO include registration, referral, placement services, labor market information, career coaching and employment registration. It also covers other special programs of the department including special recruitment activities (SRA), job fairs, electronic manpower skills registry system (E-MSRS), among others.

Last year, PESO-Iloilo partnered with 488 local and overseas companies for job fairs. The partnership provided local employment to 5,419 applicants and 4,254 for overseas placement.

Heler said that they were also able to establish 728 barangay PESO offices.

Heler said they target to have 1,000 barangay PESO offices by the end of this year. He also mulled a grand convention for barangays PESO, which he considers as partners in reaching out down to the grassroots level.

This year, PESO-Iloilo is also piloting the JobStart Philippines program in Western Visayas. It is a youth employment facilitation program of DOLE in partnership with the Asian Development Bank and Government of Canada, which aims to enhance the employability of at-risk youths.