Students from SPED school in Bontoc hired under SPES

Bontoc, Mountain Province – Five persons with disability (PWDs) who are students of the Mountain Province General Comprehensive High School-Special Education (MPGCHS-SPED) Center were among the 60 beneficiaries employed under the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) of the Bontoc local government unit in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment. 
Labor and Employment Officer II Jenelyn Caluza said the SPES beneficiaries completed 20 official working days excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.
The five PWDs from MPGCHS-SPED Center were assigned in their school with their teachers as their immediate supervisors.
They received P5,355.24 each as their salary from the LGU on July 27. The DOLE’s counterpart of P3,570.16 will be released through remittance centers. 
The other SPES beneficiaries were deployed in their respective barangays to help in the Clean and Green Program of the government and assist teachers in public schools. 
With Bontoc being a second-class municipality, Caluza said the SPES beneficiaries will be paid P446.27 per day. Their wages come from the 60 percent share of the LGU and 40 percent from the DOLE. 
Mayor Franklin Odsey said the program aims to help the students earn and gain experience during their summer break. 
“This will help them in their studies next school year to be used for payment of their tuition and other needs in school. We have chosen students who we know will continue their studies next school year. We believe that the program will help them even in a little way,” the mayor added. 
Odsey said the PWDs were included in the program believing they are one of the sectors that should not be left behind. 
The SPES, a yearly job generation program of the government, is intended to help poor but deserving students pursue their studies by providing them employment during vacation to augment their tuition for the coming school year.
It aims to develop the intellectual capacities of children and harness their potentials for the country’s well-being. – Alpine L. Killa