2 individuals discover TMP school to reignite hidden, lifelong passions

Mary Ann D. Bagui, 30, has a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree, but she also finished a culinary arts and baking course. Her dad wanted her to become a doctor, and mom wanted her to become a chef. But Mary Ann also wanted to achieve something else.

 

Since second year high school, she had wanted to become an auto technician. She learned how to drive at the age of 14. Her brothers and cousins described her as a “car chic.” Mary Ann, who owns an SUV, a sedan and an AUV, knows her cars, but admittedly, she said she wasn’t too “hands on” at troubleshooting.

 

That will soon change. She is one of the 155 students who passed a series of exams and admissions interview at Toyota Motor Philippines’ (TMP) School of Technology in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

 

Mary Ann already has set her sights on an ambitious plan: to work for Toyota Motor Corp. in Japan. Intently dissecting a car engine when Inquirer Motoring chanced upon her on Oct. 29, Mary Ann knows the road to Japan would be long and tedious, and perhaps full of grease and oil. “I will have to concentrate on acquiring the discipline to attain the maintenance and technology standards of Toyota.”

 

In a classroom not too far from where Mary Ann was sweating over a powerplant, Dennis G. Ureta, 46, was also busy fulfilling an item in his own bucket list. Dennis has a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture, but he says his heart was really designed for something else. Maybe an automotive master technician?

 

He admitted that he had already performed so many roles for various companies, none of them relating to his college degree, that he had become disinterested in taking the board exams for architecture. Now past his midforties, Dennis said he felt it was time to shift gears in his career.

 

Chance to go abroad

 

“I’ve been looking for a chance to go abroad. Perhaps acquiring automotive skills can help me achieve that. I love tinkering with engines, getting to know their ins and outs. If I become a great mechanic here, that means I can make the standards in other countries, since engines used here are basically the same engines used abroad,” he explained.

 

Mary Ann and Dennis belong to the first batch of 155 students enrolled at TMP’s first automotive school in the country. The TMP Tech building is located inside the Toyota Special Economic Zone in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna, where TMP’s assembly plant is also found. The plant prides itself as one of the five best-performing Toyota plants in the world for three years in a row.

 

Inquirer Motoring’s Oct. 29 visit to the school was timed with the site visit of the Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Toshinao Urabe, along with officials of the Department of Trade and Industry.

 

The visit was part of the action of the Sub-Committee on Improvement of Business Environment convened under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement.

 

Urabe said of TMP School of Tech: “It’s a wonderful facility. World-class. I was impressed. With the Sub-Committee on Improvement of Business Environment, we discussed with the Philippine government developing human resources in the Philippines. The Philippines has a very young, very capable population. Japanese investors would hopefully join the Filipinos to develop human resources, just like how it is being done with TMP [School of] Tech. The school trains young Filipinos, then that would create job opportunities not only here but also in other countries like Saudi Arabia.”

 

Win-win relationship

 

He added, “I hope to work together with the Philippine government in creating a win-win relationship where not only the Japanese companies, Japanese government, but also the Filipino government and the Filipino people will benefit.”

 

Cristina Arevalo, TMP corporate affairs group first vice president, stressed that the TMP School of Tech’s vision is to be the school of choice for technical education, and to be the best source of talent for the Toyota global network, thereby providing a better future for the Filipino society.

 

“Our curriculum on automotive servicing will provide our graduates a pro-technician level equivalent, and after graduating from TMP [School of] Tech, they are almost assured employment in our Toyota dealerships. We also provide Toyota values formation, dealer environments, safety and health, Toyota way, among others.”

 

The school was established on April 10, 2013, and registered with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority on June 12. It is a nonstock, nonprofit educational institution, with a capacity of 600 students. It has 68 teaching and nonteaching personnel, and a dormitory with a current capacity of 104. With the completion of a fourth level, the dorm will be able to take in 184 students.

 

“TMP’s vision is for the school to be the best source of highly skilled automotive workers in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Arevalo. “The school wants to develop well-rounded technical professionals, providing a conducive learning environment, and to strengthen relationships with local and international automotive partners.”

 

TMP School of Tech accepts high school graduates, male or female, at least 16 years old. There is no maximum age limit, but the applicant must pass written, practical and medical exams.

 

The facilities in TMP  School of Tech include a speech laboratory (where students are taught different languages for international employment), a computer laboratory, advanced training simulators fitted with a variety of engines for students to analyze, workshops and vehicle stalls and classrooms.

 

The ‘tongue test’

 

Mary Ann said her technical exam included operating batteries and handling electrical wires. Chuckling, she recalled that in one of her classes, she had to overcome her fear of being electrocuted.

 

“Our professors told us that if a student wanted to overcome such fears, we had to do the ‘tongue test.’” The wire connected to the positive and the negative terminals had to be put on our tongues. The pole that hurts or bites would be the negative charge. I did overcome the fear of grounding through the tongue test.”

 

Not everything in Ureta’s mind is directed to Los Angeles, Canada, Australia or New Zealand—his dream assignments. Among his more grounded objectives is to be able to help repair the family cars. “Some repairs are minor, and they need not be brought to the casa if I know how to do them myself.”

 

Despite the many detours in their lives, Mary Ann and Dennis believe they are the architects of their own destinies. And as long as the engines of their unfulfilled dreams continue humming, they can always find their way to the road of greatest personal fulfillment and happiness.