TESDA graduate working as bank utility staff in Sorsogon passes master electrician licensure exam

ASM, Philippine Canadian Inquirer
October 08, 2026

Photo courtesy: PRC Board website

Joenel Olaso, a utility worker and messenger at a private bank in Sorsogon City, is now a Registered Master Electrician. 

He passed the licensure examination after years of financial hardship and months of studying while on the job.

Olaso holds a vocational certificate from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). 

He was among the 493 examinees who passed the Registered Master Electricians Licensure Examination, out of 882 who took it on April 23. The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) released the results on April 28.

His preparation was shaped by his daily work. In a personal account of his journey, Olaso said he went over lessons while washing dishes, mopping floors and cleaning toilets. He kept folded reviewer notes in his pocket and memorized formulas by reciting them in front of the bathroom mirror.

“Work in the morning, review at night became my routine,” he wrote.

Olaso finished TESDA’s one-year Electrical Installation and Maintenance NC II course in 2013. His family could not afford to send him to college. He is the second youngest of six siblings, none of whom earned a college degree.

After his father, the family’s main provider, died, Olaso began working right away to support his mother and his siblings who were still in school.

Finding work in his field was difficult. Employers usually preferred graduates of four-year electrical engineering programs, so Olaso took whatever jobs were available across Sorsogon. He worked as a laborer for electricians and in roles unrelated to his training so he could provide for his family.

He also sought work in Manila, where he was robbed within days of arriving and lost his new phone and his wallet. He was unable to contact his mother for nearly a month and endured hunger and hardship before returning home.

Over the years, Olaso said, he was often insulted and shouted at by people in positions above him. He said these experiences strengthened him rather than left him bitter.

His path to the licensure exam opened in 2021, when an electrical engineer told him that TESDA graduates were eligible to take the master electrician exam. Encouraged by his then-girlfriend, now his wife, and others who believed in him, he decided to pursue it.

His first application, for the September 2025 exam, fell through because his documents were incomplete. He applied again in January for the April 2026 exam. He made five trips to the PRC regional office in Bicol to complete his requirements, spent heavily on travel, and waited more than two months for his application to be approved.

Once it was approved, he reviewed for about a month while working full time. At home, he cared for his pregnant wife and handled household tasks before studying each night.

Olaso credited his faith and the support of his family for helping him through. He said he felt calm rather than anxious on exam day.

“Who did it? God did it,” he wrote.

Olaso now plans to teach TESDA students and encourage them not to look down on themselves because of their vocational background. His next goal is to become a licensed electrical engineer.