Over a thousand slots await “summer jobbers” in Southern Leyte

By MARCELO M. PEDALINO, PIA Southern Leyte
April 4, 2012

MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte  –  The Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) project of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) provincial office here just got even more special this summer time, as more qualified youths will be gainfully employed.

In a list of 2012 SPES pledges faxed by DOLE to the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), some 1,031 posts are up for grabs, mainly through the labor agency’s partner institutions that included local government units, a public school, and one national government office, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Mario Tictic of DOLE-Southern Leyte told PIA yesterday that for this year their office was given an allocation of 1,500 students to be taken in for SPES placement, also popularly known as summer job, so they still have to fill in some 400 plus slots, this time in cooperation with private schools which already signified their intention to join.

DOLE and their respective listed partners are presently finalizing the papers of students who had applied for this summer’s SPES, which will start on May 7 for a 20-day employment period, while educational institutions in the private sector like Saint Joseph College (SJC) and the College of Maasin (CM) will start this June, Tictic informed.

The provincial government tops the list with 338 students up for hiring, followed by the city government at 150 individuals, and Malitbog LGU came in third with 110, then Sogod LGU at 100.  Malitbog has the distinction of hiring similar students for years in a row, even as it accepts new SPES applicants, 80 students for this summer.

The public school which participated in this program is the Southern Leyte State University (SLSU)-Bontoc Campus.

Other LGUs with SPES placements this year are Macrohon, Padre Burgos, Tomas Oppus, Libagon, Saint Bernard, Anahawan, Hinundayan, Silago, and Liloan.

Most summer jobbers have a daily rate of P150 per day, except for SLSU-Bontoc at P133 per day, Maasin City at P180 per day, and DPWH at P250 per day.  Salaries, however, will be shared between DOLE and the sponsoring LGU/agency, with DOLE paying 40% of the rate, and the LGUs, 60%.

Based on the list, DOLE sets aside a budget of P1,338,662.40 for 1,031 SPES takers already pledged, while the combined counterpart of all the LGUs was P2,007,993.60.