SAN JOSE De BUENAVISTA, Antique — The Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) Antique office is encouraging more private businesses to be a partner in the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES).
DOLE-Antique Director Lorraine Villegas said private businesses, through their corporate social responsibility, could help students and out-of-school youths aged 15 years to 30 years, to be trained in their workplace through the program.
The province had allocated PHP5 million for the program that targets to employ more than 1,400 students who would work in private businesses or local government units (LGUs), she said in an interview on Wednesday.
Some 60 percent of the salary of the beneficiaries will be shouldered by the employer and 40 percent by DOLE.
“Last year, we only had a PHP3.57-million budget for SPES,” she added.
In 2017, only four businesses or institutions joined the SPES – the Advance Central College, St. Anthony’s College, Barbaza Multi-Purpose Cooperative, and Wynman Foods, Inc.
The University of Antique also joined the program, along with the provincial and 14 municipal governments.
There were 1,244 beneficiaries last year for 20 to 37 days.
The program, however, could extend up to 78 days if the partner establishment or LGU is willing to further host them.
Villegas said training with private establishments would also mean bigger salaries because the computation was based on the minimum wage, which was PHP350 per day, while LGUs offer the municipal rate, usually at PHP200 per day.
“Interested private establishments may call or write us about their intent to be accredited for the program so we could assist them,” Villegas said. (Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/PNA)
