By Gideon C. Corgue
PAGADIAN CITY – A total of 216 fresh college graduates have availed themselves of the Government Internship Program (GIP) implemented by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Zamboanga del Sur field office.
Chief Labor Employment Officer Lourdes Amores disclosed in an interview with Philippine Information Agency (PIA9) that of the total 300 applicants, only 216 qualified and got hired.
Amores said the GIP is in line with the provision of Executive Order No. 139, series of 1993, implementing the GIP as component of Kabataan 2000, to provide opportunities to young workers who serve the general public in government agencies/entities, projects and programs at the national and local level.
“Under the program, fresh and young graduates are employed by the department to assist in the implementation and monitoring of DOLE programs and projects related to employment facilitation,” said Amores.
The program also affords the beneficiaries opportunities to demonstrate their skills and talents while undergoing internship to fully prepare them for their future employment.
They will be paid by DOLE at P210 per day or 75 percent of the existing minimum wage approved by the Regional Tripartite Wages Board (RTWB) of the region.
Amores said the GIP was implemented in two batches: the first batch was on April 15, and second on May 5, 2014. “The GIP beneficiaries who were dispatched on April 15 will work until October and those deployed on May 5 until November this year,” the DOLE official said.
Amores said she is very optimistic that with the program, unemployment problem in the province would be reduced.
Amores, however, urged the GIP beneficiaries to perform very well during their internship in the national government offices and LGUs to compensate the opportunity extended to them by these offices and, at the same time, the efficiency and competence shown by them during their internship would serve as basis for recommending them for future employment.