City Mayor Convenes Newly Formed Multi-sectoral Employment Council

Mayor Justin Marc SB Chipeco convened the newly formed Calamba City Employment and Human Resource Development Council (CEHRDC) on Tuesday to implement the provisions of Executive Order No. 1431 and to study possible amendments if necessary to the implementation of the Employment and Human Resource Development Plan (EHRDP) of the city.

Mayor Chipeco signed Executive Order No. 1431 on December 16, 2014 for the creation of the Calamba City Employment and Human Resource Development Council (CEHRDC) that will implement, monitor, and evaluate the programs and projects under the Employment and Human Resource Development Plan (EHRDP) of the city.

In his speech at the formal opening of the meeting, Mayor Chipeco, who is also the chairperson of the CEHRDC, expressed his full support to the activities of the council while looking into the legal measures in providing additional funding when necessary.

Milagros R. Mata, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Laguna Provincial Director, the vice chairperson, led the presentation of the PreEmployment Summit output and of the CEHRD Plan.

Peter Capitan, head of the City Information Investment Promotions and Employment Services Office (CIIPESO), and also the head of the Secretariat of the council said in an interview, "now that the council is formally formed through the executive order, with the continued support of the mayor, with the strong cooperation and convergence with the private sector, the city can better prepare for the challenges of the coming AEI specially on the aspect of jobmismatch that had been identified as the major obstacle in job employment."

When asked as to the background of the newly formed council, Capitan said that "Last year, Mayor Justin Chipeco gave instruction through the CIIPESO to hold an Employment Summit with leaders from the academe and business sectors to gather input on how to address the challenges of the coming ASEAN Economic Integration (AEI) and the total employment situation in the city. "

"The Technical Working Group (TWG) started formulating the framework as early as June last year (2014)," Capitan said. "From then on we had a PreEmployment Summit in September to finalize the EHRDP and formally presented at the Employment Summit in October. A copy of the plan was given to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda DimapilisBaldoz during the summit."

As to the membership of the council, Capitan said that "representing the academe are...