By Perla Lena
TACLOBAN CITY, (PNA) — Institutionalized Public Employment Service Office (PESO) will be prioritized should there are programs and projects, especially if there is a budget, that will be implemented by the Dept. of Labor and Employment.
Regional director Exequiel R. Sarcauga, who has been pushing for the institutionalizing of PESO in local government units, said that putting them in the priority list is their department’s way of “giving in return what it takes to be institutionalized.”
He cited among others the provision of computers, training for PESO managers and seminars for barangay officials under the Skills Registry System project.
With SRS, they were able to identify available skills down to the barangay level making it easier to locate possible human resource if there is a need for their expertise.
Currently, Eastern Visayas has 32 institutionalized PESO. When he assumed as regional director last year there were only four, he said.
On the top of the list is Southern Leyte that has 6 institutionalized PESOs including its provincial office. He said that the province is bent on institutionalizing the office in all of its local government units.
Another performing PESO, and the first among cities in the region, is that of Tacloban City.
These two are among the region’s bet to the best PESO award that will highlight the national PESO congress here that will kick off tomorrow.
Currently the region belongs to the top two or three nationwide with the highest number of institutionalized PESO, he added.
PESO serves as link between DOLE and LGUs when it comes to responding to job placement issues.