INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The Board of Investments (BOI) on Wednesday expressed confidence that the government would meet the target of building up a pool of 128,000 technicians and engineers by 2028 despite a decline in the number of students enrolling for engineering courses.
Ma. Corazon Halili-Dichosa, BOI executive director for industry development services, on Wednesday noted that there has been a decline, but said the government is already implementing measures to reverse the trend.
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“Our strategy for achieving (this) is really looking at the specific requirements of the industry and then map out interventions particularly at the institution level, at the graduate and at the corporate level,” Halili-Dichosa said during a press conference held in Makati.
“What we are also looking at is doing some campus advocacy, making the students understand the different opportunities in the semiconductor industry,” she added.
The Semiconductors and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (SEIPI) president Danilo Lachica said that the average salary of technicians ranges from P15,000 to P20,000 per month while the average starting salary for engineers was P30,000 per month.
“You may say that it is low, but if you look at the benefits, if you look at the 14th month, the 15th month pay, if you look at the bonuses, (the compensation) is big,” Lachica said on the sidelines of the same press conference.
The total annual compensation depends from company to company. Some multinationals, for example, would even give stock options,” he said.