PTRCA 2.0 Training Program, to Open Opportunities Doors for Filipinos

MANILA: PTRCA is working with underprivileged Filipinos since 2008, helping them to stand on their toes and live a respectable life. And now this six-year-old training program is soon to get transformed into PTRAC 2.0 training program. The 2.0 addition will bring in two of Porsche sibling sisters Audi and VW in the picture.

So, now apart from Porsche, Audi and VW will also be part of PTRCA, together recruiting junior technical staff from the training centers. Filipino youth will get a chance of formal mechanical training, making them eligible for job opportunities mainly in the Middle East region. PTRCA 2.0 training program with new cooperate partners will allow a larger number of youth to get admission in the program. So, now the number of trainees will rise from 32 per year to 120 in 2016 and even 145 in 2017.

Porsche in running the said training program in corporation with Don Bosco Technical Institute (DBTI) and local importer and dealer PGA Cars Inc. The program has already trained more than 250 young Filipinos as motor vehicle mechatronic technicians. Porsche AG Head of After Sales Michael Drolshagen said,“Good English language skills and the good work ethic the people of the Philippines are known for are beneficial here. But of course for us it means also practicing social responsibility. Because a qualification from the PTRCA not only gives these young adults access to the international labor market, it also gives them a real opportunity to noticeably improve their own living conditions and to strengthen their family environment.”

Jayson Supan was the first individual to graduate from PTRCA, and he is earning a handsome sum allowing him to built his own house in the Philippines, pay for his brother's schooling, helping his parents to set up a small rental company in the Philippines. Thus, the program has proven its value and in words of Benoit Tiers, Group Managing Director of AVM, “The programme has proven its value and we can build on it quickly and easily. It demonstrates the strengths of our Group by using synergies and know-how across the Volkswagen Group brands. We will be closely involved in the PTRCA 2.0 in the next years as we plan to participate in the development of the curriculum, but also to look at further training for teachers and eventually the equipment. The expansion of the PTRCA programme to include a body technician apprenticeship and from 2017 service advisor training programmes lends additional dynamism. This noticeably further increases the benefits for all Volkswagen Group brands and the dealer network.”