The city government has released PHP10.427 million for the wages of 1,786 youth workers who availed of the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) through the Public Employment Services Office (PESO) earlier this year.

PESO head Ma. Rebecca Balicas said on Tuesday that almost all beneficiaries have already received their pay from the city government.

Only four students have not claimed their wages, she added.

Of the 1,786 beneficiaries, 250 are covered by the SPES of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) while the other 1,536 are under the city-paid program.

The total wages paid included P8.064 million for the city-paid SPES beneficiaries and PHP2.362 million for 60-percent pay of those qualified in the SPES-DOLE.

Each youth worker has a rate of PHP525.04 per day.

The city-paid ones got PHP5,250.40 for 10 days of work while those included in the SPES-DOLE worked for 30 days, and received 60 percent of their salary amounting to PHP9,450.72 from the city government.

They will claim the remaining 40 percent amounting to PHP6,300.48 from the DOLE.

Balicas said youth workers under the city’s payroll were assigned to survey their respective communities while the SPES-DOLE beneficiaries were deployed to various tasks such as home gardening, survey, and encoding.

Those who availed of the program are youths between 15 years and 30 years old who are in school as well as out-of-school youth who want to earn money for enrolment.

Meanwhile, the DOLE through the SPES aims to provide students with work related to their career path.

High school students are only allowed to participate in SPES during summer vacation while college and technical and vocational students who are 18 years to 24 years old can take advantage of the opportunity all year round. (PNA)