Kiangan, Ifugao will employ 48 grantees for the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES).
The grantees will be deployed in July in the different offices of the municipality, such as the tourism office, nursery, municipal hall, and Indigenous Peoples Education Center, among other offices.
Public Employment Service Office Manager Mary Gumangan said, the local government is hiring young people to help them earn for their education.
She said aside from financial help, the SPES is a good exposure for students to familiarize themselves with office work.
The SPES program is one of the regular programs of the Department of Labor and Employment in partnership with the local government unit.
It is a youth employment-bridging program that aims to provide temporary employment to poor but deserving students, out-of-school youth (OSY), and dependents of displaced or would-be displaced workers during summer or Christmas vacation or any time of the year to augment the family’s income to help ensure that the beneficiaries will be able to pursue their education.
The SPES grantees are expected to start working in July and will have a rate of P426.71 daily, funded by DOLE and the LGU with each having a counterpart of 50 percent. Each grantee will receive P8,000 for 20 days.
Lianes Bomin-o, a grade 12 student and grantee, said she is fortunate to be part of the program.
Students in senior high school and college level and OSYs are eligible for the SPES program as long as they are at least 15 but not more than 30 years of age.
The combined net income of their parents, including their own, should not exceed the regional po-verty threshold.
Students must obtain a passing grade and those OSYs must be certified by the Local Social Welfare and Development Office.
All applicants must submit certificates of indigency, latest grades, and birth certificates, while minor applicants need to get a waiver from their parents permitting them to work. – Picialine L. Taguiba
