Overseas Working Filipinos (OFWs) are often called the “modern day heroes/heroines” because of the dollars they send back to the Philippines which play an integral part in the country’s economic growth. They work so hard in foreign lands and endure loneliness and isolation in order to give a better life for their families. But what happens to them when they return home for good? Do they fade away and cease to become heroes/heroines? Do they simply go on with their lives and lose/forget their years of experience?
To address the needs of the returning OFWs, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) 11 and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) 11 have jointly embarked on a program called PeRSON (Permanently Returning Skilled OFW Network).
One of the returning OFWs integrated to this program is Noli Isaguirre Valparaiso who worked for 10 years in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia . Noli had his humble beginnings in Camarin, Daliao, Toril in Davao City . His father was a worker at a plywood company in the locality and his mother, a housewife who made ends meet for him and seven other siblings.
He got a job in 1992 as a construction worker at Engineering Equipment Industries (EEI) where he experienced working on boiler systems. At the time, EEI had started to penetrate the international market, obtaining a major contract in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for another power-plant where Noli’s expertise in the boiler system was needed.
The more than ten-year experience in boiler installation had made Noli an expert in this craft and more. Installing boilers also entails welding work which gave him exposure in the installation of pipes, I-beams and angular metals. Constant reference to boiler plans had also made him proficient in interpreting drawing symbols and diagrams.
After ten years of this exposure, Noli decided to come back to the Philippines, for good. Believing that people are the country’s best resources, TESDA 11 and OWWA 11 tapped what the returning OFWs, like Noli, have learned abroad as a collective intellectual and management skills pool that can be drawn from in order to power up our economy.
Last August 6, Noli spoke before the trainees of the Regional Training Center – Korea Philippines Vocational Training Center Davao (RTC-KPVTC Davao) where he shared his experience as an OFW and imparted to them the values needed when working overseas.
