TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Hundreds of citizens hoping to find work or improve their skills throng to the Tabuk People’s Gymnasium for the 2024 Matagoan Festival Job and Skills Fair.
The fair is a one-day event where various commercial employers, both local and international, set up booths in the hopes of finding a skilled employee, as well as allowing different groups to demonstrate and teach their skills to those interested.
According to City Councilor Kristian Wandag, the event is appropriate for the festival’s name because “Matagoan” means life, and the job fair, in some ways, gives people life through job and employment prospects and skill development training.
“Pag mas maganda at mas marami kang skills, mas maraming opportunity para magkatrabaho,” she said.
A sentiment shared by Vice Mayor Dick Bal-o, who stated that while he appreciates the need for jobs for all, the city government can only hire so many job orders that it cannot accommodate everyone who wants to apply.
He also suggested that it is preferable to apply to private enterprises with higher pay grades or build their own, that is why he is grateful to all of the companies that opened their doors to hire people during the job fair, as well as those who volunteered to offer their knowledge at the skills fair.
Here are some of the business establishments who set up during the job fair: ME Shopping Center; Palawan Pawnshop; Centro Department Store; Mr. DIY; Mercury Drug Store; Pandayan Book Shop; Vanitea; Equity Machineries, Inc.; K-Servico; Mang Inasal; Jollibee; Chowking; Talavera Hypermart; Banko Montañosa; Golden Berries Hotel; M-Hotel; J & T Express; TAMPCO; AIA Philippines; Cool Day Autoworks; 1st Northern International Placement, Inc.; Pacific Star International Employment Agency, and more
For the skills fair, participants were taught how to process mushrooms into different snacks such as chicharon, polvoron, and pastillas.
Participants were also treated with free services such as massage and manicure/pedicure. By Edward Joseph Gacuya