Senators seek to strengthen digital careers in Philippines amid pandemic

Some senators on Tuesday pushed for a measure seeking to equip more Filipinos for digital careers, especially in a COVID-19 economy.

Senate committee on labor chairperson Joel Villanueva said Senate Bill No. 1834 or the proposed Philippine Digital Workforce Competitiveness Act would boost employment even in the countryside by equipping Filipinos with skills necessary for digital jobs.

"Sa pamamagitan ng panukalang batas na ito, maisasakatuparan o mahihigitan pa ng Department of Information and Communications (DICT) ang target nitong 500,000 unemployed Filipinos sa ating mga probinsya na maging globally-competitive digital workers sa taong 2022," Villanueva said as he sponsored the bill.

The proposed law creates an inter-agency council that will focus on promotion, development, enhancement, and competitiveness of the Philippine digital workforce.

It shall be chaired by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) while the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Trade and Industry, DICT, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority shall be made members.

The council will be authorized to enter into public-private partnerships with experts, information technology-business process outsourcing industry associations, private companies and other stakeholders in the formulation and implementation of training, skills development, and certification programs.

The training shall cover the areas of online teaching, animation, content creation, digital marketing, game development, and mobile application development, among others.

The bill also mandates the Public Employment Service Offices in local governments to create a localized digital technology and digital skills registry, and to conduct virtual job fairs.

Senator Sonny Angara, a co-author, said being tech-savvy is crucial in a "rapidly digitalizing world" and that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that "having a competitive digital workforce helps build a safer workplace and a more resilient economy."

"Digital workforces can easily transition to 'work-from-home' arrangements, without much pomp and circumstance. Social distancing during work hours would be a non-issue because employees won’t even need to go to the office in the first place," he said in a speech.

Citing Paypal’s 2018 Global Freelancer Insights Report, Angara said the Philippines has a "huge economic opportunity" to capitalize on as it already is a haven for online freelancers who number roughly to 1.5 to 2 million.

The endorsement of the bill came on the heels of the Philippine Statistics Authority's estimation that there are 4.6 million jobless Filipinos as of July while the country continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.—AOL, GMA News