President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. wanted to "retrain and reskill" overseas Filipino workers who wish to come home for good, Malacañang said on Saturday.

The Office of the Press Secretary, in a statement, said the President made the remark during his meeting with members of the Private Sector Advisory Council.

The agenda of the meeting was to explore ways in which the government can help Filipino workers to undergo skills development and learning recovery programs.

Here, the President stressed the importance of micro-credentials to enable Filipino workers to remain competitive in the workforce.

"The micro-credentials, it's not a four-year course. It's not a degree. But you can present this to qualify for a job," he said.

Micro-credentials are short skills-focused qualifications that seek to support learners to skill up in a wide array of knowledge areas.

"It's really skills training. We have to upskill everybody. We need to have a system that will work with everyone," he said.

Press Undersecretary Cheloy Garafil said the Chief Executive cited the Business Process Outsourcing industry as an example, where workers have ramped up efforts to upskill for offshore medical jobs.

At least 16 innovation centers are with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Marcos noted, hence the need to support Filipino workers in upskilling to stay competitive.

The President also wanted to scale up micro, small and medium enterprises for returning OFWs who wish to put up their own businesses.

Financial literacy needed
Meanwhile, PSAC recommended to the President the need to provide OFWs access to money, markets, and mentoring and enable them to undertake digital transformation.

Marcos has committed to helping them flourish by streamlining existing processes and making it easier for MSMEs to thrive.

Among those present in the meeting with PSAC officials were Vice President Sara Duterte, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma and Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual.

Also present were Aboitiz Group CEO Sabin M. Aboitiz, JG Summit CEO Lance Y. Gokongwei, as well as representatives from McKinsey & Company.

Created under the Marcos administration, the PSAC is composed of business leaders who put forward recommendations to the government to achieve its economic goals.