THE Philippine team won a bronze medal and four medallions of excellence during the recently concluded Asean Skills Competition in Indonesia, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) said on Saturday.

Asean stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Tesda, in a statement, said that Pristine de Guzman from the School of Fashion and the Arts took home a bronze medal and a Best of Nation Award for fashion technology.

Four others, meanwhile, were awarded medallions of excellence: Joselito “EJ” Ayalde of AMA Bulacan for web design; Nilo Maquiling of Samson Tech for refrigeration and airconditioning; and Nhar Chello Agasang and Ardee Mark Saqueton, both from MFI Foundation Inc. for industrial automation.

“This is a feat for our skilled Filipino workers considering that we are like making a debut to the competition after years of absence,” Tesda director general Joel Villanueva said.

“After this relatively strong start, we will achieve a golden finish in the coming skills competition,” he added.

The five were among the Philippines’16 delegates sent to Indonesia for the competition. The Philippine team also competed in IT network administration, hairdressing, electronics, beauty therapy, mechatronics and caring.

“We will do a thorough assessment of our performance in the competition, and will do what is needed in terms of the selection of competitors, classroom and hands-on training and acclimatizing them to the contest milieu,” Villanueva said.

“What’s important for now is we are able to showcase the skills of Filipinos and strengthened our ties with our neighboring nations who are similarly engaged in beefing up technical vocational education and training,” he added.

Host country Indonesia dominated the competition with 33 medals, followed by Vietnam with 14 and Thailand with 11.