PIA Press Release
Friday, January 06, 2012 SPES program benefits 4,000 Cordillera youth in 2011by Lito DarBAGUIO CITY, Jan. 6 (PIA) -- The Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) benefitted 4,000 poor but deserving students in the Cordillera region in 2011. According to DOLE-CAR Labor and Employment Officer (LEO) III George Lubin Jr, 2,563 students from the different parts of the region were given employment under the said program when it was implemented during the summer break. DOLE’s counterpart funding through the Bureau of Labor and Employment (BLE) spent P5.45 million for the program. For Abra, there were 297 beneficiaries; Apayao, 180; Baguio, 418; Benguet, 802; Ifugao, 357; Kalinga, 422; and Mt. Province, 340. Realizing the big impact of the program to its beneficiaries, Lubin said DOLE released a supplemental budget of about P3.19 million for the program, which again benefitted 1,437 students in the region, through employment during the semesteral break and Christmas break of 2011. For the said supplemental budget, 62 students from Abra, 22 from Apayao, 675 from Baguio, 61 from Benguet, 290 from Ifugao, 105 from Kalinga, and 202 from Mt. Province were benefitted. For this year, Lubin also announced that more poor students will be covered under the said program as tentative budget for SPES implementation in the Cordillera is P30 Million, almost four times higher than the P8 Million allocated for 2011. DOLE’s SPES program aims to help poor but deserving students pursue their education by encouraging their employment during summer or Christmas vacation. Any student who is at least 15 years of age but not more than 25 years old, enrolled or intending to enroll in any educational institution for secondary, tertiary or technical-vocation education, and whose combined net income after tax of parents does not exceed thousands P36,000.00 per annum may apply for the program. An applicant must also have a good standing or an average passing grade school. Lubin was guest in the PIA Hour radio program over station DZWT, Thursday. (JDP/LD-PIA CAR) |
