Concerning the Special Program for the Employment of Students in Balete

Today is the last day of the Special Program for the Employment of Students here in Balete. The local government unit has committed and employed 10 students coming from the ten constituent barangays (villages) of the municipality. Since last year at this time of the year, the LGU implemented the program with the Department of Labor and Employment to enable poor but deserving students generate extra income during the long summer break for them to pay their tuition fees for the following school year.

The SPES activities for the past two years delve on skills mapping with the end view of generating relevant databank concerning the Baleten-on labor force. The LGU's databank on its labor force is insufficient for it to establish a labor market information system. Such system would be useful not only in setting up appropriate policies on local labor and in addressing the high underemployment rate and poverty incidence but also for jobseekers and investors and other stakeholders.

So the government is investing on these students as future leaders and at the same time immersing them in the realities of labor issues and concerns of today. For 22 days since April 19, they were sent back to their respective villages to gather labor related information concerning their people and at the same time training them to analyze the data they have gathered during weekly huddles.

In a way, the program is an attempt to reorient the youth's values away from the patronage and "solicitation" mentality which are prevalent since the Marcos time.

At the most, the LGU could only pray that it has served as catalyst of change in a society where the youth although regarded as the hope of fatherland are constantly rebelling for something chic yet rootless, popular yet ephemeral.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Something About Tumbo (Cara y Cruz): A Hypothesis

Image
They say that mahjong is just a diversion, a recreation of some sort of the bored and the retired. But they say that cara y cruz is a different case. However you look at it--in both sides of the coin (pun intended), it is gambling and therefore those who indulged in it (read, the poor ones) are playing in conflict with law. And so, since yesteryears, people accepted those facts. Mahjong is recreational while cara y cruz or tumbo is gambling and illegal at that. An Alfonso showing its head and tail or if your prefer its "hari" & "corona" But I was amused at the scene of a group of individuals by an "island" at corner T.M. Kalaw and Taft Avenue I happened to pass by while doing research at the National Archives of the Philippines sometime in August 2010. I just alighted from the Light Rail Transit (LRT) at UN Station and was finding my way to cross T.M. Kalaw when I noticed a bunch of lot playing cara y cruz on the elevated concrete "isla
Read more

SOOTHING AS NIGHT WINDS ARE: An Interpretation of the poem by that title by Salvador B. Espinas

Image
Love is gentle, love is quiet Like any distant star; In loving by which we approximate the nature of love, we do not coerce those we love—as much as possible we give room for freedom to grow and respect each other’s independence, i.e., each other’s time of searching. In loving, the lover is like the distant star, manifesting his presence and yet quietly, not trying to obstruct or block the path of the beloved. He stands besides quietly assuring her of his gentle presence and constant attention. Love is beauty, love is music Soothing as night winds are. Lovers are enchanted by the wonders of creation. One who is in loved would often quips that everything seems beautiful and that “ life has music, rhythm and rhyme” –which actually is. Somehow, love enables man and woman to see reality as God sees it. As even in times of trouble, loves comes like night winds, soothing our weary mind and aching heart.
Read more

Maeocong, Chieftain of the Jae-o No More

Image
There was a time when the early settlers by the Jal-o regarded the river with a sense of foreboding. While it served as the main thoroughfare, their public baths and laundry pond, the river held many mysteries kept hidden among its lush mangroves and adjoining swamps and tributaries. Rumors and reports of actual sightings of monstrous amphibians wading its waters had been told in every household. The authorities had warned the villagers to stay out of the water especially at nighttime. Of those crocodiles, Maeocong was regarded as the dominant bull--the king of the Jae-o. He was long as a boroto (local banca) and heavier than an adult carabao. It was said that he was more deadly if paired with his favorite mate, Pingan Nonay . Together, they wreck terror along the Anao and Bag-ot swamps. For a time, the settlers tolerated their fear. They lived their lives by the Jal-o with that ominous awareness that they were not the masters of the river. But such fears had hounded them even in th
Read more