Atty. Ruth B. Castelo, Undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry-Construction Authority of the Philippines led the Philippine delegation of 20 participants from the government and local construction industry in the Technical Benchmarking on Construction Techno-Academy Training Centers in Japan.

The Philippine delegation as well as the 30 delegations from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) of the government of Japan was welcomed by Mr. Toshihiko Kuwabara, superintendent of the Craftsman Development School of the Tone Numata Techno Academy in Numata City, Gunma Prefecture to observe students in training.

Mr. Kuwabara shared in his opening speech that 5 Filipino trainees will enter the roofing course in July. He emphasized the importance of cross border observations and exchange of opinions with the Philippines to bring up future leaders in the construction industry.

Numata City Mayor Koichi Yokohama together with school superintendent Mr. Kuwabara led local representatives in the exchange of tokens with the Philippine delegation led by Atty. Castelo. After the ceremony, the delegation headed to the old Municipal Nango Elementary school which functions as a training ground for ‘impact screw driver’, ‘metal sheet cutting’ and ‘wood materials cutting’ followed by a visit to the old Municipal Hirakawa Elementary School which houses the Drone Training School of the academy.

Mr. Takeshi Aoyagi, chairman of the Gunma Prefecture Construction Industry Association presented the outcome of the pioneer batch of trainees and said ‘the pioneer batch have been sent out last year and all of them are working in the field without dropping out; this is an indicator on the importance of training before entering the field’. Mr. Matsuzawa, academy director added that the ‘Numata off grid model’ has been completed in the product development class of year 2016.

Mr. Kimura of the Construction Market Development Division, MILT said “We are hoping that this academy, as a pioneering model will increase by 10, 20, 100 number of craftsmen training school nationwide”. Atty. Castelo added “we want to strengthen the ties of friendly relationship with Japan especially with the construction industry; we look forward to applying what we have learned from this visit’. Makati Development Corporation President Dante Abando furthered “what we have learned from this visit would be surely meaningful”.