Marcos orders return of TESDA to DOLE from DTI

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has directed the transfer of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Through Executive Order No. 5, Marcos ordered the transfer of attachment of TESDA under DOLE for policy and program coordination.

Section 2 of the said EO states that the Secretary of Labor and Employment shall be the chairperson of the TESDA Board pursuant to Section 7 of Republic Act No. 7796 or the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Act of 1994.

Through Executive Order No. 5, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. orders the transfer of the attachment of TESDA from DTI to DOLE. @gmanews @gmanewsbreaking pic.twitter.com/kNwaPiaaJt

— ????Anna Felicia (@annafelicia_) September 16, 2022
 

The TESDA Board and its Secretariat shall perform their respective functions in accordance with Sections 8 and 10 of RA No. 7796, according to the EO.

The EO cites Section 2, Chapter 1, Title VII, Book IV of EO No. 292 or the Administrative Code of 1987, saying that the DOLE shall be the primacy policy-making, programming, coordinating and administrative entity in the field of labor and employment, responsible for the promotion of gainful employment opportunities and the optimization of the development and utilization of the country's human resources.

"It is the policy of the national government to rationalize the functional structures of agencies with complementary mandates and promote coordination, efficiency and organizational coherence in the bureaucracy," the EO states.

TESDA is the primary agency responsible for formulating continuing, coordinated and fully integrated technical education and skills development policies, plans and programs, taking into consideration improved linkages between industry, labor and government in the formulation of any national-level plan.

TESDA was originally an attached agency of DOLE, but an order by then president Rodrigo Duterte in October 2018 transferred it to the DTI “to ensure responsiveness and efficiency in the delivery of essential public services and the attainment of the administration’s ten point socio-economic agenda and the development goals as articulated in the Philippine Development Plan.”—LDF, GMA News