Training provided by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) helped a lot in addressing the country’s problem on poverty, which is the main root cause of communist insurgency, said its Secretary Isidro Lapeña on Wednesday.

“The communist insurgency, the main root cause is poverty and what we do in TESDA is to train for a livelihood or employment,” he said during the two-day 1st Guimaras Bamboo Summit held in the municipality of Buenavista which started on June 7.

TESDA has trained around 7.1 million Filipinos under the Duterte administration and expected to land a job or find a livelihood, he said.

One certified TESDA graduate landing a job means “one Filipino out of poverty”, Lapeña added.

“We are addressing gradually the problem on poverty, which contributes or the main root cause of communist problem or insurgency. We have contributed to the campaign against communist insurgency,” he said.

Meanwhile, the TESDA executive also committed the agency’s support to the promotion of the bamboo industry as he disclosed that they have already developed training regulations for Bamboo Production and Bamboo Processing (Engineered Bamboo), both with National Certificate Level II (NC II) qualifications.

“These were developed closely with the industry and was done to standardized training and qualifications for workers in the bamboo production and processing in the country,” he said.

He added that the training regulation has corresponding funding support that can already be cascaded all over the country.

The bamboo summit was organized by the CAPMI in partnership with the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council (PBIDC) and the provincial government of Guimaras aimed at developing the province as a hub for major bamboo planting materials in Western Visayas.

The organizers also chose to prioritize bamboo because it can be used in mitigating global climate emergencies and alleviating poverty in the countryside through the bamboo economics program. (PNA)