The Department of Education (DepEd); Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP); Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Foundation, Inc. (CCPFI); American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. (AmCham); European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. (ECCP); Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. (AnzCham); Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. (CanCham); Japanese Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. (JCCIPI); Korean Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. (KPPC); Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters, Inc. (PAMURI); Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI); Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), and the Makati Business Club (MBC) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) recently amid the recognition by the parties of the urgent need to arrest, if not altogether solve, the country’s unemployment problem.

The signatories also underscored the need to provide ways and means to enable less privileged citizens and workers, including workers with lack of educational attainment, to find gainful employment.

The MOA comes on the heels of DepEd’s commitment to improving the quality of Philippine basic education through a combination of reforms that include but are not limited to improving teacher quality, filling in the resource gaps, curriculum reform, and extending the basis education cycle. Under the MOA, the parties have agreed that:

1. PCCI, CCPFI, AmCham, ECCP, AnzCham, CanCham, JCCIPI, KPPC, ECOP, PAMURI, SEIPI, BPAP, PBEd, and MBC will encouragetheir members, and to implement programs to encourage and influence their members, to accept for employment, applicants who have completed the new twelve-year Basic Education Program from any private or public school in the Philippines; without prejudice, however, to requiring other appropriate qualifications.

2. DepEd shall provide assistance, and exert best efforts to provide assistance, in the form of giving advice, data or information, which may be necessary to enable PCCI, CCPFI, AmCham, ECCP, AnzCham, CanCham, JCCIPI, KPPC, ECOP, PAMURI, SEIPI, BPAP, PBEd, and MBC to effectively implement the MOA and such programs relating hereto, with the objective of having all members of the said organizations adopt the above-stated policy

3. PCCI, CCPFI, AmCham, ECCP, AnzCham,CanCham, JCCIPI, KPPC, ECOP, PAMURI, SEIPI, BPAP, PBEd, and MBC shall provide DepEd from time-to-time with such updates on the programs which they have adopted in accordance with the MOA and their accomplishments in the implementation of said programs and the MOA.