MORE Filipinos are taking up computer courses – from basic fundamentals to highly intricate graphic programs - offered by community groups and computer organizations that have mushroomed across the Kingdom and are operating mostly in Jeddah, Riyadh and the Eastern Province (EP). In the EP, three computer organizations are offering year-round courses to Filipino workers, many of whom have no background in computer basics. Last weekend, the Filipino Overseas Workers Association (FOWA), a newly founded community group composed mostly of blue-collar workers, including car mechanics, beauticians, household service providers, and construction workers, held the first graduation ceremony for its 13 members. Ten of the graduates – Ustadz Salman Laynes, Jasmine Jean Laynes, Leo Camba, Nelson Plotena, Fidel Sardiva, Florencio Adventurado, Berlinda Gabieta, Teresita Marquez, Lourdes David, and Reina Isidro – completed the computer course. Manuel Villapando and Alberto Marquez finished the course as computer technicians and Riche Pembling completed advanced data processing. Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) welfare officers, Rolando Coquia and Edgar Lim, who attended the FOWA computer graduation ceremony, urged Filipino workers to take advantage of the opportunity to learn computer programming while employed in the Kingdom. Lim said children of Filipino workers could also enroll in the free computer learning and training programs being offered by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in Manila and key cities in the Philippines. Gevanie D. Ymbong, the course instructor, said more courses will be offered in other areas of computer education for rank-and-file Filipino workers. According to Dr. Alan V. Notarion, the association president, FOWA has decided to make computer education and training one of its priority projects, and will be called the FOWA Computer Entrepreneur Program. Last November, over 50 Filipinos graduated from the Computer Society of Filipinos International Inc. (COMSUFIL) - EP chapter, in programs like PC Hardware Assembly, Window XP Fundamentals, and Trouble Shooting Windows XP. David Des T. Dicang, Philippine labor attaché, who was the guest speaker during the COMSUFIL graduation, noted that many of the graduates are workers whose jobs are not computer-related. Some of them were construction workers, beauticians, and car mechanics. As more Filipinos seek computer education while working in the Kingdom, computer groups have set up their operations in permanent places, such as community schools, to make their presence more visible and easily accessible.
