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The Energy Development Corp. (EDC), in partnership with the Counselors for Immigration and International Studies (CIS), is taking its career internship program Sikat abroad to broaden career opportunities for its scholars.
(Clockwise, from top left) CIS President and Chief Executive Officer Renato Bueno; EDC Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Relations head and Assistant Vice President Atty. Allan Barcena; CIS corporate lawyer Ana Margarita Bueno; and EDC Corporate Support Functions head Regina Victoria Pascual hold a virtual signing of a memorandum of agreement for the overseas internship program for Sikat scholars.
Sikat, a Filipino word for Sunshine or ray, is the Lopez-led EDC’s flagship education program that supports underprivileged but deserving students in the company’s host communities through financial assistance and mentoring.
CIS, composed of trusted educational consultants, partners with host schools and educational sponsors in the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany and New Zealand in providing more learning opportunities and career choices to students.
Renato Bueno, CIS president and chief executive officer, said the main goal of CIS is to give Filipino youth, as “hope of the nation,” opportunities to a better life, and one of the keys to this better life is through education and employment opportunities.
Under the agreement, CIS will sponsor a qualified Sikat scholar graduate for the pilot internship program abroad and will support the scholar’s cost of living.
“For Sikat scholars and graduates, this MoA with EDC is an opportunity on your part to change your life, [as well as] the lives of the people that you will meet every day,” said Bueno during the signing of a memorandum of agreement held virtually on Zoom.
Atty. Allan Barcena, EDC’s corporate social responsibility and public relations head and assistant vice president, said: “We are thankful for this opportunity given by CIS to our Sikat scholars, and we are likewise thankful that we can partner with like-minded institutions that also believe in education and its importance in achieving a regenerative and decarbonized future,” he said.
EDC, for its part, will be responsible for screening the applications of its Sikat scholar graduates and for the submission of the qualified candidate’s documents to CIS for processing. EDC will also be providing financial provisions for the pre-departure expenses of the candidate.
Since its commencement in 2011, the scholarship program has so far admitted 202 scholars and produced 89 graduates. The program also supports K to 12 students from over 100 schools in its partner and host communities nationwide, providing school supplies, tutorial assistance and early education support annually.