CURRICULUM training efforts should be geared toward manpower requirements of the Investment Priorities Plan to provide Filipinos employment edge, Senator Joel Villanueva said on Thursday.

Villanueva said the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Technical and Skills Development Authority, Department of Labor and Employment and other training agencies involved in education and development should work together to ensure that Filipino workers are preferred hires.

The senator pointed this out as he expressed his support to a provision in Senate Bill 1156 or the amendments to the Foreign Investment Act of 1991, which introduces a new section in the development of the Investment Priorities Plan.

“We should identify and prepare specific knowledge and skills to equip our workforce,” Villanueva said.

Meanwhile, Senator Imee Marcos sought a substitute bill to Senate Bill 1156 or An Act Promoting Foreign Investments, Amending Thereby Republic Act 1042 or the Foreign Investment Act of 1991.

Marcos explained that SBN 1156 was filed in November 2019, long before the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act was enacted into law.

“It does not take into consideration many concerns, for example of our Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, that are already taken up by the Retail Trade Law or the upcoming Public Services Act,” Marcos said.