Iloilo City bags Regional Best PESO award

Iloilo City is Regional Grand Winner of Best Public Employment Services Office (PESO) for highly urbanized city category and Unique Employment Program awardee for its Uswag Negosyo Economic Boost to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) given by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Region 6.

The awarding was held Sept. 6 during the 2023 Regional PESO Congress in Pontevedra, Capiz which recognized best PESOs for their notable contributions and accomplishments in employment facilitation programs and for exemplifying excellence in public service.

“I am forever grateful to Mayor Jerry P. Treñas for all the support he has given to PESO. This award is also for our business partners who believe in us, to our partners in different sectors for their undying trust, and to every Ilonggo who dreams to land a decent job,” PESO Iloilo City manager Gabriel Felix Umadhay said.

He vows to continue upholding their mission of creating programs and initiatives to further improve their services in terms of job employment and career development.

The Best PESO Awards are given to those operational and institutionalized PESOs, LGU-PESOs, and/or school-based PESOs now called Job Placement Offices, whose entries undergo a rigorous screening process just to be nominated for the awards.

Every PESO candidate must be implementing at least one of the PESO Core Services, namely: Referral and Placement, Employment Guidance and Counseling, and Labor Market Information.
Some 140 PESO managers from Western Visayas were present to attend the learning sessions from keynote speakers and joined the Search for the Best PESO Awards Night.

To date, various job-generating programs are being offered in Iloilo City, including the Jobstart Program, Special Program for the Employment of Students, Government Internship Program, and emergency employment opportunities such as the DOLE TUPAD Program for out-of-school youth, and other marginalized earners.

Recently, PESO successfully concluded the Charter Day Job Fair, which opened more than 16,000 job placements for Ilonggo jobseekers. (Angelo Miranda/Iloilo City PIO)