Bacolod businessman Ramon Uy inaugurated his Pandayan ng Bayan Training Center to help jobless out-of- school youth get ahead in life on his 78th birthday on Saturday, Sept. 14
Uy, and his wife, May, with Mayra Uy Javelosa, Chris Javelosa and Princess Uy Margen, cut the ribbon to open the center at the RU Foundry and Machine Corporation compound in Barangay Pahanocoy, Bacolod.
The center will provide free training for jobless average and below average out-of-school youth to equip them with skills to make a living, Uy said.
“Those who are above average and geniuses are also welcome but I would rather they be average and below average because they are the ones who have less opportunities in life”, he said
“We want to empower the youth who have had very little opportunity for an education”, Uy said.
They will start giving opportunities to the youth in Pahanocoy and later from other parts of the province, he said.
Uy, who said he wanted to give back on his birthday, added that they can also provide accommodations for those from out of town who wish to train at the center.
He said they can accommodate 20 trainees per batch for a 30-day training program to enable them to acquire welding, fabrication, forging, foundry, design, machine shop, electrical or renewable energy skills.
If his firm has vacancies they could hire some of the graduates, he said.
But the skills they will acquire from the center will help them land good paying jobs abroad, Uy said.
When Uy started his business in 1971 they used very crude methods to cut metal because he did not have capital but his business has since grown by leaps and bounds. “We started with P3,000 capital,” he said.
“That is why I am very passionate about this Pandayan to give others opportunities,” he said. A small business can grow into a big business, Uy pointed out.
“If there are small Pandayans all over the Philippines they could start a mini industrialization in the country,” he said.
Gasification technology to produce electricity using rice hulls and agricultural and rescue drones are among the products being developed and produced at Uy’s facility. They also produce a lot of agricultural equipment and promote organic farming.*