Act No. 10968 or An Act Institutionalizing the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF).146 Developed through the collaboration of the DepEd, TESDA, CHED, DOLE, and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), the PQF is a quality assured national system for the development, recognition, and award of qualifications based on standards of knowledge, skills, and values acquired in different ways and methods by learners and workers educated/trained in the Philippines.147 It describes the levels of educational qualifications and sets the standards for qualification outcomes.148 As defined in Republic Act (RA)10968, qualification refers to a formal certification that a person has successfully achieved specific learning outcomes relevant to the identified academic, industry, or community requirements. A qualification confers official recognition of value in the world of education and training, work, and job creation.149 70. Republic Act 11261 or known as the First Time Jobseekers Assistance Act, was also signed into law in 2019.150 This Act mandates government agencies and instrumentalities to waive fees for first-time job seekers in relation to their application for licenses, identification, clearances, certificates, or other requirements required for employment locally or abroad.151 71. Indigenous People (IP) Education and Advocacy Services as codified in RA 8371.152 The development objective of IP Education and Advocacy Services is to invest in human development through the educational grant or scholarship to serve indigenous cultural communities/indigenous people who seek the opportunity and qualify for educational advancement and/or skills development, thereby empowering them to become self-reliant, capacitated and socially responsible to meaningfully contribute to the recognition, promotion, and protection of their rights and well-being, and to nation-building. 72. The program has four components: (i) Educational Assistance Program (EAP), which provides financial assistance to learners who must maintain a general weighted average of 80%; (ii) Merit-based Scholarship Program (MBSP), which aims to provide a full package benefit to qualify the serving art students; (iii) PAMANA-EAP, whose beneficiaries come from IP conflictaffected areas and conflict-vulnerable areas; and support to Advocacy Program through assistance to community schools, help in the review of LET and other professional exams, bridging project/tutorial activities, school-based supplemental feeding, Culturally-Adaptive Basic Education and Health – Integrating Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (CABEH-IIKSP); assistance in the development of IP dictionaries/glossary 146 Philippine Qualifications Framework, Legal Bases, available at https://pqf.gov.ph/Home/Details/5#:~:text=10968%20entitled%20%E2%80%9CAn%20Act%20Institutionalizing,)%20and% 20Appropriating%20Funds%20Therefor.%E2%80%9D (last accessed May 19, 2022). 147 Philippine Qualifications Framework, The Philippine Qualifications Framework and the Philippine Education and Training System, available at https://pqf.gov.ph/Home/Details/16 (last accessed May 19, 2022). 148 Id. 149 Id. 150 An Act Waiving Government Fees and Charges in the Issuance of Documents Required in the Application for Employment of First Time Jobseekers [FIRST TIME JOBSEEKERS ASSISTANCE ACT], Republic Act No. 11261, (2019). 151 Id. at § 3. 152 An Act to Recognize, Protect and Promote the Rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples, Creating a National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Establishing Appropriating Funds Therefor, and for Other Purposes [THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS ACT OF 1997], Republic Act No. 8371, (1997). 37