SBMA, SBF locators help adults with special needs face independence in the real world

Subic Bay Freeport–Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) ventured in yet another first-of-its-
kind partnership, to support the workplace immersion program for adults with special needs of
students from the Vanguard Academy.

Over the weekend, SBMA officials led by Labor department manager Atty. Melvin Varias, together
with Le Charmé Suites chief executive officer Josephine Pellicer and Meat Plus Café Group
operations manager Eizon Wilmar Sampang, welcomed 11 students of the Vanguard Academy
(VA) in a send-off ceremony.

“On behalf of our chairman and administrator Rolen C. Paulino, and our Senior Deputy
Administrator for Support Services Atty. Ramon Agregado, I would like to congratulate the
Vanguard Academy for making this possible here in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone,” remarked Atty.
Varias.

“This pilot immersion program is somehow noble to us because it involves students with special
talents. This is unique to us. I hope that this multipartite partnership will be sustained even in the
coming years because we believe that we can help prepare them for possible gainful employment
in the future,” he added.

The Vanguard Academy, a special education institution in Makati City, Metro Manila, has
collaborated with the SBMA Labor department to send off 11 young adults with special needs to
selected SBMA departments and Freeport locators where they will work as on-the-job trainees
(OJTs).

Five of them were assigned to SBMA departments (three for Tourism and two for Law
Enforcement), four to Le Charmé Suites (two each for the cafeteria and hotel front desk), and two
to Meat Plus Café.

In 2021, the VA launched the Workplace Immersion Program (WIP) on an online platform due to
the pandemic. Students completed the program with the school’s partnerships with Viva
Entertainment, Ayala Foundation and Bonifacio Art Foundation, where the OJT work focused more
on the visual arts skills of the students.

The Academy is also taking it up a notch this year by piloting WIP on a face-to-face platform
allowing them to work on-site but with guidance by job coaches from the academy.

One of their goals is for their students to have assisted or fully independent part- or full-time
employment in small or large businesses by empowering individuals of all abilities, regardless of
age, diagnosis whether typical or special that they may eventually be able to contribute to and be
part of the society.

A few weeks back, the VA’s job coaches conducted an orientation session with its WIP partners on
the basics of handling adults with special needs. Then, proceeded to assisting the students as they
undergo the formality of a job interview by their respective employers, and a tour of the facility the
students will be working in.

Jean Patricio, Vanguard Academy director for Academics, Employment and Independent Living
Skills said that they always use the term “all abilities” to refer to different levels of abilities, whether
typically developing, or individuals with autism, individuals with Down’s Syndrome, individuals with
intellectual disability, or individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and so on.
“We are using WITH—with autism, with Down’s syndrome and not their actual names like autism,
Down’s syndrome.

It’s always WITH because we want to highlight that those diagnoses are just a part of them and not who they are. These individuals are more than their diagnosis,” she added.

During the opening program and send-off ceremony, the SBMA, Le Charmé Suites, Meat Plus
Café, and Vanguard Academy officials sealed the agreement to formally commence the
implementation of the two-week WIP of 11 adults with special needs.

Students, parents, job coaches and even partner establishments were anxious about the
implementation of the program because these adults with special needs will be away from their
comfort zone for two weeks.

However, one parent, Roy Ebora, father of three student participants namely, Kyle Kurt and John,
said that the WIP is very well appreciated.

“From my perspective, this kind of program brings hope to parents like me that they will learn life
skills. To people who are not in the normal spectrum, as development psychologists call it, having
life skills is actually not that simple. And as we know, society in general, can be a little bit harsh to
people who are not part of the normal group,”

Ebora explained citing that one of his fears is if his children would be able to integrate themselves to society when they are gone.

Meanwhile, SBMA chairman and administrator Rolen Paulino expressed elation about having
adults with special needs completing their training here in the SBF.

“This is great! Aside from the regular individuals we have in our workforce, we have “differently
abled” individuals in our workforce. Now, we have trainees with special needs. I look forward to
having them as workers sometime soon,” Paulino said.

Paulino also mentioned that in Subic Bay Freeport welcomes workers of all kinds of groups,
including members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer community. With that, he reiterated
the call to potential investors who want to make it happen in the Philippines to invest in Subic. (SBMA)