A total of 165 college students from the different schools in Dumaguete City, the capital of Negros Oriental, reported on Tuesday to City Hall for their individual work assignments.
Ma. Socorro Mira, head of the city’s Public Employment Services Office on Tuesday said the 165 college students will be paid under the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES).
The program is done in collaboration with the Department of Labor and Employment.
Each SPES beneficiary will be paid P200.00 a day or P4,000.00 for the entire 20 days of work at City Hall, said Mira.
The city government will shoulder 60 percent of the payment of the students’ wages while the DOLE will cover the remaining 40 percent, she added.
Because of the K to 12 Program of the Department of Education, the SPES has not had any high school students enrolled in the past two years, according to Mira.
But with the first batch of Senior High graduates in 2018, the SPES will resume accepting high school student to the program, she added.
The SPES beneficiaries this year come from poor but deserving families and had to undergo screening and interviews, the PESO chief said.
Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo, during Monday’s opening ceremonies at the 2nd floor of the Public Market Complex, encouraged the students to study hard, help their parents and ask for God’s guidance in achieving their goals in life.
The SPES program will end on May 15. (PNA/JFP)
