CENTER'S
BACKGROUND

          The TESDA Regional Training Center – Tagoloan is strategically situated in the heart of the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate of Misamis Oriental (PIE-MO) where small, medium and large industries are situated.  It has a 25-kilometer distance east of Cagayan de Oro just outside the city.  Situated in a 30,000-square meter donated lot with the purpose to supply the manpower requirement of the industries within the area and develop communities and individuals through technical education and skills development.

          The Center operates toward producing certified graduates that respond to the needs of various industrial establishments in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental. Hence, its registered programs are market-driven as envisioned during its creation more than three decades ago.

          With the demanding presence of 30 medium and large manufacturing and processing firms and 57 service firms within PIE-MO in Misamis Oriental and major car dealers in Cagayan de Oro, TESDA identified RTC-Tagoloan as the Center of Excellence for Welding and Metal Fabrication funded through the ODA.  This paved way to the provision of various high-end equipment and tools in 2005.  More than a decade later, the Center will offer Mechatronics Servicing NC II to produce technicians that respond to the industrial automation of various industries.

          The total workforce of the training center is 17.  Nine out of the seventeen are trainers and only four of the nine trainers have permanent in position.  The rest of the personnel are non-teaching.

Rationale:

          The RTC-Tagoloan was tooled and equipped under the International Competitive Bidding (ICB-V) funded by the World Bank during the late 80s and early 90s of the then National Manpower and Youth Council (NMYC).  It was not one of the original Regional Manpower Training Centers (RMTCs) that NMYC conceptualized and made operational nationwide.  Unlike other RMTCs, this Center was considered as one of the smallest RMTCs at that time, and even today, the smallest RTC in the new TESDA-era.

The Center has a total land area of 30,000 square meters with only 10.7% utilized for the purpose.  The rest of the areas are vacant lots planted with coconuts which were once a vast source of income-generating projects that’s no longer true today. Despite funding from ADB which was utilized to purchase tools and equipment as Center of Excellence (CentEx), the Center has only 2 workshop buildings that houses the laboratory areas of 13 registered programs today.  It has no administration building which means that the Office of the Center Administrator, the admin staff, the Assessment Center and the Registrar, just squeezed in to get an office space.  Nevertheless, the office spaces were compromised but with no assurance of tranquility the way an office should be.  Just one electric grinder started to whirr and the entire building is enveloped with the irritating noise.

          With the expansion of floor areas of every workshops as conceptualized in this IDP, will give way to the realization of the innovation center concept and provide the required four main compartments, namely: The Science Laboratory, where lectures and experiments will be conducted; Demonstration Area, for product demonstration and display; Incubation Area, for enterprise and business practice; and the Research and Development Area, that gives exposure to the trainees on new products and technology.  

One imminent problem in the Center is the non-replacement of damaged tools and equipment.  These equipment succumb to training wear and tear and comes a time, once bogged down, it became irreparable.  Consequently, it affects the quality of training that TESDA advocates.

The call for this development plan is very vital for the institution to become enabler of quality-assured and sustainable TVET so that we become more responsive to the development goals of the new administration and the labor market demand.  The looming radical change in technology results to skills set disruption, and not complying with the skills need of this change will shorten the marketability of our graduates. 

The investment maybe quite big but the return is worthwhile and timely because it will make our country competitive and bring us to the front of the ASEAN Integration.