Considered first of its kind, the Provincial Online Registry for the local workforce, was launched in Bohol Friday, boosting hopes for jobseekers to find their suitable employer. Dubbed as Bohol Skills Registry System (BSRS), BSRS is one of PaDaYON's major projects with the DILG's Local Government Support Program for Local Economic Development (LGSP-LED), funded by the Government of Canada. BSRS is an innovative program that aims to serve as an online avenue for workers and employers in Bohol to easily find each other.

Spearheading the launching was Gov. Edgar M. Chatto, together with Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Regional Director Ananias Villacort, DILG-Bohol LED Program Coordinator Mary Ann Aparece-Verga, First Sec. of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of the Canadian Government Genevieve Asselin, member of the local government units (LGUs) of the Panglao-Dauis-Baclayon (PaDaYon) Bohol Marine Triangle led by Panglao Mayor Nila Montero of Panglao, Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) President Loy Palapos, Bohol Association of Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants (BAHRR) and Provincial Tourism Council (PTC) members, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the private sector.

The Bohol Information Communication Technology Unit (BICTU),with its head Senen Bojos, has developed the system with the support of the DTI and the DILG's LGSP-LED program. The provincial government and the PaDaYon are pioneering the project and with the latter as the center of tourism activities in the province, are expecting to increase employment in the area through the system via (jobs.bohol.gov.ph). LGSP-LED aims to reduce poverty by creating business-friendly LGUs and competitive local tourism sectors.

Earlier this year, LGSP-LED provided computers to PaDaYon and the Province of Bohol in support of its BSRS development. The Bohol Employment and Placement Office (BEPO), with its Head, Romulo Tagaan, and the three PaDaYon municipalities initiated this project not only to serve as an efficient source of information for potential employees and employers but also, as a resource for them to monitor and plan support programs for workers in their respective communities. According to DILG-Bohol Provincial Director Loisella Lucino, the PaDaYon experience serving with BSRS can serve as a model that the provincial government can eventually expand to cater to the rest of the municipalities in the province.

LGSP-LED began its intervention in PaDaYon in 2012, particularly in workforce development, seeking to address the mismatch between skills in demand and competencies in the supply of local workforce. It has already trained PaDaYon LGUs to become local economic development enablers through capacity building trainings and technical assistance in business planning, streamlining business licensing, destination marketing, and investment promotion, among others. PaDaYon now is better-equipped in dealing with the private sector and making the growth in tourism felt by a larger number of Boholanos in the form of jobs.

Through LGSP-LED, PaDaYon had a platform to converge local private sectors such as the BAHRR, PTC and the BCCI which led to projects such as the BSRS to be responsive to the needs of the tourism industry. In two years, PaDaYon has trained over 479 workers and small business owners along its tourism circuit. Of these, 176 were unemployed tourism workers, 64 of whom have already found employment. With fiber optics launched in the province only last July 22, Bohol Day, with the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and SMART Communications as partners, linking Boholanos to the country's telecommunications highway, Chatto has said that this leap could greatly help the province's three pillars of growth: agriculture, tourism and information technology sectors. ((Grekka Sarmiento/jlv)