SABANGAN, Mountain Province – Some twenty-two skilled farm workers from the different parts of the province were recently interviewed by three Japanese employers for their deployment to their future jobs in Japan.
The interviewed skilled farm workers are part of the 80 applicants of the Join Us for Progress (JUP): Jobs, Jobs, Jobs program of the Dominguez family that was held in the province last March.
Further, the interviewed farm workers are also part of those undergoing the required Nihongo language training in the next several months prior to their deployment to their prospective employers in Japan.
Earlier, five farmers were also interviewed by their prospective employers as they were undergoing their language training in preparation for their deployment once they will be able to complete their ongoing language training.
All these skilled workers were able to meet their Japanese employers while completing their language course as part of their familiarization with each other before being deployed for their assigned work in Japan in the next several months.
The representatives of the Japanese companies that visited the province and evaluated the applicants’ credentials include Daisuke Kuroki of D-Craft Co. Ltd., Masaya Honda of Sunrise Co. Lt. and Katsunori Shinukawa of Shinukawa Corporation.
The program has been a long time advocacy of the Dominguez family in coordination with the Manila-based Philippine Human Resource Global Information Center (PHGIC) which has established linkages with numerous Japanese companies needing skilled Filipino workers.
For the past three years, the Dominguez family and the PHGIC had been deploying dozens of caregivers to Japan before they expanded to other skills which are available in the province considering the presence of the appropriate training facilities provided by the provincial training center of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
Under the said program, qualified residents will be issued a technical intern training visa for 3 years with an extension of 2 years after which they will be issued a specified skills visa for another 5 years that makes the workers qualified to stay in Japan for a maximum of 10 years.
Among the sectors that need qualified workers from the Philippines include farming, the various fields of construction, auto-mechanic, caregiving, among other related skills.
There are more than 60 of the initial 80 that attended the jobs fair last month who submitted the necessary documents with the company which are being evaluated and assessed while they will be undergoing the required Japanese language training for them to easily hurdle the interviews of their prospective Japanese employers.
PHGIC plans to go back to the province to conduct similar job fairs in strategic areas to get more individuals involved in the available job opportunities in Japan and become instrumental in providing better opportunities for their families to improve their lives.
The Dominguez family had been quietly supporting this program and more than 50 individuals who had been employed in Japan.