Bontoc, DOLE hire studes, no-school youth

By Alpine L. Killa-Malwagay

BONTOC, Mountain Province – The Bontoc local government in partnership with the Dept. of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has employed students and out-of-school youth to work this vacation through the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES).
    Qualified were 15-30 years old, willing to continue their education,   accomplished qualifications and documentary requirements and belonged to a family whose annual income did not exceed poverty threshold of the Cordillera Administrative Region with a family of six.
    According to Labor and Employment Officer II Gladys Sawi of the Bontoc LGU, 84 SPES beneficiaries were deployed in the 16 barangays of Bontoc for house profiling necessary for collecting information at barangays for the use of Bontoc LGU, national government agencies, nongovernment organizations and civil society for planning, program implementation and monitoring.
    SPES workers will complete 20 official working days which started July 18, 2022, and will end on August 12.
    They are to be paid P464.95 per day. The wage of the SPES workers will come from the 60% counterpart of the Bontoc LGU and 40% from DOLE.
    The Public Employment and Service Office conducted an orientation on July 18, to brief SPES workers on their duties and documentary requirements which they have to submit upon completion of work.
    Like in the previous years, Sawi said seven persons with disabilities (PWDs) were included as SPES workers.
    Mayor Jerome “Chagsen” Tudlong, Jr., assured continuity of the program, saying it does not only provide income to financially constrained students but develops their intellectual and practical capacities through exposure and actual job experience.
    The program was in line with the present administration’s roadmap for the next three years – “Enlangagkha: Achieving the vision for a dynamic Bontoc.” Englangakha is an old Bontok term meaning to shine brightly. One of its pillars is empower communities which includes promoting health and nutrition, local culture, arts, strengthening support for education and youth development and maintaining peace and order.
    The SPES, a yearly job generation program of the government, is intended to help poor but deserving students to pursue their studies by providing them employment during vacations to augment their tuition for the coming school year.
    It aims to develop intellectual capacities of children and harness their potential for the country’s well-being.