Seaoil helps crew members finish school

SEAOIL Scholars (from left) Ariel Tabat, Allan Campos, Mikko Sotto, Sarah Cachero, Jesabel Sancho, Isagani Gabito, Melvin Teodoro and Ernits Dion Salvador

As one of the biggest independent oil players in the country, Seaoil Philippines Inc. has indeed gone a long way to helping transform the landscape of the local downstream oil industry.

From being the first player to open a gas station following the deregulation of the oil market in 1998, Seaoil Philippines has since grown to become a pioneer on many fronts, employing over 1,000 employees and now accounting for over 4 percent of the total industry market.

And this growth, admirably, is not something for the owners and management to enjoy alone.

Crew members, for instance, are enjoying their share of the growth pie through Seaoil Philippines’s CARES program—an extensive personal and professional development program that enables gas station employees to reach their full potential and achieve their dreams.

“We are investing in our employees to give them better opportunities at work,” says Eugene L. Miranda, station organization development (OD) manager.

According to Miranda, the CARES program (which articulates the oil company’s brand of service: Covenient, Affordable, Reliable, Environment-friendly and Service-oriented) covers various subprograms that focus on various facets: extensive training programs for starting and developing crew members, work-life balance, appraisal systems, recognition programs, and scholarships, among others.

Education thrust

Underscoring Seaoil Philippines’ thrust for education, Miranda points out that Seaoil Philippines’ scholarship program, which began in 2010, was opened specifically for the crew members of company-owned gas stations who wanted to finish their studies.

For this year alone, Miranda says the oil company has a total of nine scholars from six of its retail gas stations, now enrolled in various colleges and universities in the metro.

Over the next five years, Seaoil Philippines is planning to further expand its scholarship program to two crew personnel in at least 30 stations across the country.

Miranda explains that this scholarship program was meant to serve as an incentive for those station personnel who will exhibit extra-mile performance and positive behavior towards their work.

Should the aspiring crew members pass the screening test, they will be able to take a four-year degree in any of the “preferred courses” of Seaoil such as accountancy, psychology or marketing, among other options.

He explains that these courses will allow the scholars to secure a job in the head office of Seaoil Philippines, where they will be required to work for at least two years following their graduation—definitely a small price to pay for the invaluable gains from an educational degree.

Staying with Seaoil

This requirement, however, was not at all a problem for Melvin B. Teodoro and Ariel A. Tabat, crew members at Seaoil gas stations and current scholars under the CARES program. This is, in fact, a much welcome development as this will assure them of jobs right after graduation, and enable them to support their families. Both scholars even expressed keen interest in staying with the company even beyond the two-year requirement.

The 23-year-old Teodoro relates in a recent interview that he was grateful for having been given the chance to finish college, which he says was the most important thing in his life at the moment, as this will allow him to give his wife and 3-year-old child a better life.

According to Teodoro, he was forced to stop schooling when his father died, so he can help support his family. After several jobs in other companies and industries, Teodoro then joined the Nangka station of Seaoil Philippines in 2008 and has since shown much dedication to his work—his ticket to earning a much coveted scholarship for an IT course.

Teodoro is now on his second year at the Institute of Creative Computer Technology, taking up Science in Information Technology.

For Tabat meanwhile, the scholarship by Seaoil Philippines was something that will allow him to become a professional and provide a better future for his wife and kid.

Tabat relates that he had previously finished a two-year course on Computer System and Network Technology at the AMA Computer Learning Center in Daet, Camarines Norte, as well as vocational courses at the Tesda Training Center in Taguig.

“Unfortunately, even with my qualifications, I was not able to find a job related to the courses I took because most companies are looking for graduates from a four-year course. I then enrolled at the AMA in Parañaque under the BS Information Technology program but I was only able to finish one trimester because of financial difficulties,” Tabat explains.

Seeing that Seaoil Philippines was looking for a part-time service crew, he then seized the opportunity to be able to work and at the same time, pursue a four-year course and his dreams for his family.