RTIC groundbreaking. TESDA Director General Jose Francisco B. Benitez leads the groundbreaking ceremony for the P174.24-million Regional Training Innovation Center (RTIC) on April 11, 2025, at the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental. Funded by the Asian Development Bank through the SIPTVETS Project, the facility will offer advanced training in mechatronics and industrial automation and is set to be operational by 2026. (Photo: DCC/PIA-10)
TAGOLOAN, Misamis Oriental (PIA) — Construction works have commenced for the Regional Training Innovation Center (RTIC) here of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), following the groundbreaking ceremony on April 11.
The P174.24-million facility is funded by the Asian Development Bank through the Supporting Innovation in the Philippine Technical and Vocational Education and Training System (SIPTVETS) project to align technical training with current industry demands.
TESDA Director General Jose Francisco B. Benitez said the RTIC is part of the agency’s initiative to modernize the technical-vocational education and training (TVET) system in response to increasing technological integration in the workplace.
The center, located within the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate, is one of 17 RTICs planned nationwide.
Expected to be operational by 2026, the RTIC will be equipped with makerspaces, training tools and equipment, and systems for industrial automation and control engineering.
“The decision to offer advanced mechatronics here is part and parcel of the Center’s link to industry players, especially with PHIVIDEC here, so that we can better serve the locators’ needs,” said Benitez.
He added that the center’s programs will support agro-industrial productivity and the region’s technical skills education ecosystem.
“What it’s supposed to do is to be part of a much larger ecosystem of all the other TESDA technology institutions, and our partners in the community colleges, the state and municipal universities and colleges, for example, to complete the ecosystem of the TVET education,” he said.
TESDA also plans to develop a cohort of trainers to support and sustain the rollout of mechatronics programs across northern Mindanao.(GDA/PIA-10)
