Seizing the dream: gaining skills for a better life
A radio commercial helped Bayani Bayta start a new life. He was one of many poor and unemployed young adults in the Philippines escaping the fields for the dream of skilled employment.
Life can be hard in some parts of the Philippines. For those who are unemployed or have no skills to speak of, each day can be a struggle to put food on the table. Options are often limited to toiling in the fields for low pay. The dream of a better life remains, for most, just a dream.
Two years ago, 30-year-old father of one Bayani Bayta was a farmer scraping a living off the land. “It was very hard. I earned just enough to survive day to day,” he says.
A radio commercial changed his life. It was for a training programme called Bridging Employment through Skills Training (BEST) run by the Malampaya Foundation, the social investment organisation founded and funded by Shell, Chevron and the Philippine National Oil Company - Exploration Corporation (PNOC-EC). The three companies are the joint-venture partners behind the Malampaya deep-water, gas-to-power project.
Giving up a day’s pay, Bayani took the 100-km journey from his hometown to Palawan’s capital city, Puerto Princesa, where he made it to the final day of the BEST entrance exams.
He passed the entrance exam and did not look back.
The Malampaya deep-water, gas-to-power project signalled the birth of the natural gas industry in the Philippines
Skills for jobs
Through the BEST programme, young adults aged 21 to 35 are offered training in a broad range of skills like welding, scaffolding erection, pipeline fitting and pipeline insulation. These skills match the needs of local industries, so the chances of employment after graduation are high.
Since 2007, the Malampaya Foundation has helped more than 3,000 poor or unemployed young adults to escape the fields and equip themselves with the technical skills necessary to find well-paid jobs in the Philippines and overseas.
Once admitted to a course, students are known as “BEST scholars”. They receive, for instance, around 500 hours of training to become a fully qualified welder.
The Malampaya Foundation runs the BEST programme in the neighbouring communities of the Shell-operated Malampaya project, which is the largest industrial undertaking in the Philippines and supplies a quarter of the country’s energy needs.
A better life
After passing the entrance exam, Bayani travelled 1,000 km to Luzon where he trained and graduated as a welder. He is one of about 120 BEST graduates who have found jobs as scaffolders, riggers and welders in the Phase 3 expansion of the Malampaya project. The expansion consists of a new platform to sustain Malampaya’s current level of energy production.
Today, welder Bayani Bayta is one of more than 3,000 graduates of the BEST programme.
“Now I can pursue my dream to have a better life,” he says. “Many things have changed as a result of the BEST programme. Especially the pay I now earn.”
Fellow graduate Diesebel Rubi, 23, agrees: “The skill of welding and of doing it safely is my way to a better life. It is a treasure that no one can take away.”
Learn more about Bayani and Diesebel’s life stories in the video below.
Searching for hope: The story of the BEST Palawan Scholars
Title: Searching for hope: The story of the BEST Palawan Scholars
Duration: 5.23 minutes
Transcript
[Music plays]
[Caption]
Searching for hope: The story of the BEST Palawan Scholars
[Bayani Bayta, B.E.S.T Palawan Scholar]
I was a farmer back in Palawan. It was very hard. Learned just enough. There was no way to save on what I earned. It was just enough to survive day to day.
[Diesebel Rubi, B.E.S.T Palawan Scholar]
My father worked the rice fields. Sometimes he would be at sea. If my father didn't work extra jobs, there wouldn't be enough money for food.
[Bayani Bayta, B.E.S.T Palawan Scholar]
Of course my dream is to improve my situation, to have a better life. That's all, just a simple dream.
[Voice over]
For many people, Palawan holds few options. The possibilities for a better life are limited. And for those who work, they often find themselves toiling in the fields for just enough pay to get them their next meal.
But with the Malampaya Phases 2 and 3 project, people like Diesebel and Bayani can now image a future beyond rice fields
[Caption]
The Malampaya project
[Voice over]
The Malampaya project which supplies a cleaner source of power, more stable supply of energy delivers up to 45% of Philippines energy requirement. It is currently the largest and most significant industrial endeavour in Philippine history.
Malampaya does more than power the country, it aims to leave a legacy of empowered lives. It invests in the lives of many Philippinos especially in its neighbouring communities in Palawan and Subic.
Priority goes to the out of school youth and the unemployed through its BEST programme where one can develop technical industrial skills such as welding, machining and construction. And as BEST Scholars Diesebel and Bayani gain not only just employment at Malampaya but a lifetime of opportunities as skilled workers.
[Diesebel Rubi, B.E.S.T Palawan Scholar]
If I hadn't become a B.E.S.T Scholar, I would just be sitting at home, maybe have a job for a few months but nothing stable.
[Caption]
The Malampaya HSSE Training Centre
[Jamie Purves, Training Manager, Malampaya HSSE Training Centre]
This was purposely built for this Malampaya project and to do all our training for this whole entire contract and project.
[Voice over]
The Malampaya HSSE Training Centre aims to build the competences of the Malampaya Phase 3 workers in both the fabrication yard and offshore.
It will raise HSSE standards for the local workforce and help enhance their employment opportunities in both local and international oil and gas industries.
[Jamie Purves, Training Manager, Malampaya HSSE Training Centre]
I want the participants to take new knowledge and level of awareness of hazards and HSSE that is at site as well as that they are responsible for safety not only for their own safety but those of that their co-workers as well.
[Neil Burton, Malampaya Phase 2 and 3 HSSE Lead]
At the moment, we are addressing the safety standards and the standards that we require for the project.
In the long term, the facility as it develops could meet the needs of future workers beyond the Philippines.
[Voice over]
In coming years, the Malampaya HSSE Training Centre is expected to develop thousands of new skilled workers for the country even beyond the Malampaya project.
[Diesebel Rubi, B.E.S.T Palawan Scholar]
First and foremost, we learn about personal safety. We need to make our safety and that of our co-workers a priority.
[Bayani Bayta, B.E.S.T Palawan Scholar]
Training here is so important because with a project like Malampaya, it's very complex, there's a lot we need to be cautious about.
[Caption]
Tomorrow re-written
[Bayani Bayta, B.E.S.T Palawan Scholar]
Many things have changed in my life, especially with what I earn now, it's quite good. And personally, I've really learned to value people.
[Diesebel Rubi, B.E.S.T Palawan Scholar]
The skill of welding and doing it safely is my way to a better life. It is a treature that no one can take away.
[Caption]
Hope renewed
Training welders in Malaysia
In Malaysia, Shell and Miri Vocational College recently celebrated 25 years of partnership in technical skills development with their ProjekLINK programme. Through the programme Shell helps young adults in local communities to become qualified welders. Skilled welders are in great demand in Malaysia, especially in the oil and gas industry. More than 800 young adults have been trained over the years, with more having completed the programme at two other locations in Malaysia.
Read about ProjekLINK in Malaysia - opens in the Shell Malaysia website
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