President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. raised the need to "retrain" and "reskill" overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who wish to come back to the country for good as he pointed out that "micro-credentials" will make workers adaptable and diversely skilled.

Marcos said this in a meeting with the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) members, where they tackled workers’ skills development and learning recovery programs.

During the meeting, the President said OFWs who wish to return to the country for good should be "retrained" and "reskilled. He cited the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry as an example, where workers have ramped up efforts to upskill for offshore medical jobs.

According to Marcos, micro-credentials are vital for Filipino workers to remain competitive in the workforce.

Micro-credentials are short skills-focused qualifications that seek to support learners to skill up in a wide array of knowledge areas.

"Yung micro-credentials, it’s not a four-year course. It’s not a degree. But you can present this to qualify for a job," he said.

"It’s really skills training. We have to upskill everybody. We need to have a system that will work with everyone," he added.

President Marcos reported that 16 innovation centers are with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), hence the need to support Filipino workers in upskilling to stay competitive.

MSMEs

Meanwhile, Marcos and the PSAC likewise discussed scaling up micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The PSAC stressed the need to provide them access to money, markets, and mentoring; and enable them to undertake digital transformation.

President Marcos has committed to helping them flourish by streamlining existing processes and making it easier for MSMEs to thrive.