Functions and Duties of the Council.
Section 5
SEC. 5. Functions and Duties of the Council.—The Council shall have the following duties and functions: To formulate integrated, comprehensive, long-term plans for efficient allocation, accelerated development, and optimum utilization of manpower and out-of-school youth for economic and industrial growth and organize such training centers, programs and projects as may be necessary to attain the objectives of this Act: Provided, however, That all such programs and projects shall be purely voluntary on the part of the trainees; To establish a National Manpower Skills Center under its authority and supervision for demonstration and research in accelerated manpower and youth training as well as regional and local training centers for gainful occupational skills in suitable locations, utilizing its own facilities and/or those of selected educational institutions, government agencies, and voluntarily cooperating employers, trainees and civic groups in nationwide, industry-wide or specific programs and projects, and to adopt employment promotion schemes to channel unemployed youth to critical and other occupations; To promulgate policies and standards for manpower and youth training, conduct studies and gather information on the size and characteristics of the population and labor force, and adopt policies in skills development among unemployed and underemployed persons, as well as render assistance in skills upgrading among craftsmen, technicians, trainers, and other persons; To administer all existing manpower and development programs now being done under any department of the government of the Philippines and ongoing technical assistance programs and/or grants in aid for manpower and youth development, and those which may be entered into between the Government of the Philippines and international and foreign organizations and nations, as well as persons and organizations in the Philippines. The Council shall have authority to enter into agreements needed to implement programs and to act on nominations of citizens of the Philippines for training in other countries or jurisdictions; To evaluate the output of human resource development programs to gear educational and training objectives to the requirements of the annual investment priorities plan and of rapid economic development, and to study levels of wages and incentives for the utilization of manpower in critical occupations; To provide training assistance to any employer .or group of employers, upon filing of the appropriate petition with the Secretariat requesting for accelerated or other forms of training, commencement or expansion of operations and upon the finding that the trainees or a reasonable number thereof will be hired by the petitioning employer or industry at the completion of the training course, in which cases, screening, payment of training fees, and pretesting of trainees shall pertain to the applicant firm or industry including the use of equipment and supplies for training purposes; To submit an annual report to the President and to Congress on plans, programs and projects on manpower training and out-of-school youth development. For this purpose, the Council may require all government agencies to provide information in the preparation of said report; and To perform such other functions as will fully carry out the declared national policy on manpower and out-of-school youth under this Act.