OVER 1,000 students from Candaba town in Pampanga recently benefitted from the Department of Labor and Employment's (DOLE) Special Program for the Employment of Students (Spes).
Mayor Rene Maglanque said a total of 998 college students received their salaries after doing community work and backyard vegetable planting.
He said the beneficiaries are the second batch to receive their salaries after the initial distribution in December 2020 which benefitted 602 students.
He said the second batch of distribution included beneficiaries aged below 21 years old who were initially forbidden to join the program.
"Due to community restrictions, students below 21 years old were not allowed in the program but many students who were originally included in the list were affected so we reached out to DOLE and thankfully, they granted our request," he said.
The mayor said beneficiaries above 21 years old were required to do community works, while those 20 years old and below were tasked to plant fruit and vegetables in their backyards.
DOLE Pampanga Provincial Director Arlene Tolentino, meanwhile, said that each student received around P9,055, 60 percent or about P5,433 of which was given by the local government while 40 percent or some P3622 became DOLE counterpart.
She said the Spes in town is one of the biggest among all municipalities in the province as it benefitted a total of 1,500 students.
"The initiative of the LGU in implementing Spes is very commendable as it does only help students financially, especially this pandemic, but it also promote community work, in this case backyard farming which is very important now that prices of goods continue to soar," she said.
