BAGUIO CITY (November 23, 2006) – We no longer need more lawyers, accountants and other so-called glamor professionals.

Instead, said Vice-president Noli de Castro, during the nationwide development skills competition for public high schools here, the nation needs more plumbers, sewers, welders and other skilled technical-vocational people to meet the needs of a globalizing world.

De Castro spoke some 2000 students and teachers from various public high schools in the country meeting for a nationwide skills competitions.

The times have changed, de Castro said in Filipino, adding, “Gone are the days when only professionals with prefixes on their names like Attys., Drs., etc or suffixes like CPA, MD, and PhD are recognized. Today, technical-vocational skills are increasingly needed for industrialized economy. He reiterated in Filipino, “Habang isinusulong ang industriyalisasyon, kelangan natin ng technical-vocational skilled workers,” (While we move towards industrialization, we need technical-vocational skilled workers).

De Castro admitted that he too is excited with the government’s increasing attention in honing technical-vocations skills of high school students. Jokingly, he said that more and more have enrolled into hairstyle and make-up courses, bangus de-boning, sardines-making, residential wiring installation,and plumbing.

He said parents should gear their children into “tech-voc” instead of pushing them into professional careers saying, “Mas mahirap nga pag mas madami pang abogado dahil mas magulo at CPA dahil mas maraming mandaraya sa BIR,” (It will be harder if we have more lawyers and CPA, because more will cheat the internal revenue office) he quipped.

De Castro said the common Pinoy aspired to become glamorous movie stars professionals while an industrializing country needs skilled workers for factories. “Nakakalungkot isipan na konti lang ang mga kwalipikado sa mga naia-advertize na kelangan na mga trabaho,” (It is sad to think that a few qualify in the advertised jobs). # Ace Alegre for NORDIS