MikeLigalig.com

by PNA

Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said Sunday the additional P168.1 million that President Benigno S. Aquino III had added to the budget for the Special Program for the Employment of Students, or SPES, will mean an additional 52,000 students benefiting from the program.

“I am thankful for the President’s recognition of the SPES as an effective employment appreciation program for students. With the additional budget, many more students will have the opportunity to earn during school vacations,” she said.

In his Labor Day message to workers and workers' organizations during a breakfast meeting he hosted in Malacanang, the President announced that he had added P186.1 million to the SPES program to help industrious but poor students who cannot enroll through college.

“Ang tugon natin sa kanila ay ang SPES na magbibigay sa kanila ng trabaho kapag bakasyon. Ang una nating tinatarget para sa taong ito ay walumpung libong benepisyaryong estudyante. Pero ngayon, ang budget para sa SPES ay pinadagdagan na natin ng P168.1 million pesos sa sipag ng DBM at ng DOLE,” the President said in his message.

“Ang katumbas po nito, dagdag na limampu’t dalawang libong estudyante na hindi na kailangang mamrublema pa kung saan sila kukuha ng panustos sa kanilang pag-aaral. Ipagpapatuloy natin ang pagdagdag ng budget para sa SPES sa 2012, tulad ng naaayon sa batas,” he added.

With the added financial heft for the SPES, Baldoz encouraged local government units, Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs), as well as employers and other stakeholders to intensify the promotion and monitoring of the SPES to sustain its viability.

She also encouraged employers engaged in small and medium enterprises to hire poor but deserving students under the SPES program, adding the law amending the SPES would provide more students opportunities to earn during school vacations.

Republic Act No. 7323 took effect on March 30, 1992, with a budget of only P42.9 million. Over a 16-year period, the SPES allocation amounted to P2.3 billion.

Baldoz said the number of Filipinos who benefited directly from the SPES has reached over 1.6 million poor but deserving students.

"The SPES has definitely made a difference in the lives of millions of Filipino students who have no means but have the ability to pursue college education," Baldoz said.

The SPES law provides poor but deserving students aged 15 years, but not more than 25 years employment opportunity during summer and/or Christmas vacations in business establishments.

SPES students get paid a minimum wage, 40 percent of which is in the form of a voucher applicable for the payment of tuition fees and books in any secondary, tertiary, vocational or technical educational institution. The 60 percent is paid for in cash by the employers. They are also entitled to other benefits and privileges under the Labor Code.

The SPES law has been amended to allow more poor, but deserving students to participate because it lowers the income requirements for families; lessens the coverage of employment size of establishments from 50 persons to at least 10 persons that could increase the number of establishment- participants; ensures non-diminution and automatic increase of the SPES annual budget by 20 percent; makes the SPES year-round for students enrolled in tertiary, vocational or technical education; and increases the period of employment from a minimum of 20 days to a maximum of 52 days, except during Christmas vacation where the employment period is from 10 to 15 days; and considers the SPES employment as part of the probationary period should the student apply for work in the same company after graduation.

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