The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Negros Oriental has reassured government interns that they will do its best to follow up with higher agency authorities on the release of unpaid wages.
The assurance comes as beneficiaries of the Government Internship Program (GIP) are calling on the agency to hasten the release of their wages for services rendered in the past months.
Provincial Labor Officer Maritess Mercado, in response, has assured that her office will make a follow up with the DOLE Regional Office in Region 7 to determine the stall in the payment of wages for GIP beneficiaries assigned with the local government unit of Dumaguete City.
A number of government interns have complained that they have not received their wages for the months of August and September up to now.
In fact, a few of them have not received payment of their salaries since they were accepted to the program in July.
The Government Internship Program provides for a six-month employment of college undergraduates and graduates with the different LGUs up to December, this year.
They shall be paid 70 percent of the daily minimum wage here of Php 310.
Mercado said her office has already forwarded the necessary documents to the regional office as early as September so these interns can be paid on time.
She could not, however, say yet where the problem lies but has promised to find ways to have the wages released at the earliest time possible.
The provincial DOLE officer also admitted that her staff is swamped with lots of paperwork because of the agency’s different programs and projects, to include the GIP.
In fact, because they are still adjusting to a different set up after the abolition of the Negros Island Region (NIR), which took effect Sept. 30, one of her staff had to go to Bacolod City, Negros Occidental to facilitate the payment of salaries for some employees there, Mercado disclosed.
This is not the first time that GIP beneficiaries here have experienced delay in the release of their wages.
A few months ago, they also raised a complaint with DOLE after having worked for more than a month but had not received payment for services rendered.
The provincial DOLE office back then said the process hit a snag after their disbursement officer’s bond had expired and that person had to renew it first.
Mercado said she is hopeful that to make payments easier, faster and more convenient for beneficiaries of the GIP and other government programs, that the wages be coursed through the bank via the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) or through an accredited courier service. (Judy Flores Partlow/PNA)