Expansion of the Special Program for Employment of Students

Republic Act No. 9547 amends Section 1, Section 2, Section 3, Section 4, and Section 5 of R.A. No. 7323, the “Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES).”
Republic Act No. 9547 provides that all inconsistent laws, orders, issuances, rules, and regulations or parts thereof are repealed, amended, or modified accordingly under Section 7.

The program allows any person or entity employing at least ten (10) persons to employ poor but deserving students who are fifteen (15) years of age but not more than twenty-five (25) years old.
Employers must pay the students a salary or wage not lower than the minimum wage for private employers and the applicable hiring rate for the national and local government agencies.
Secondary-level students may be employed only during summer and/or christmas vacations.
Tertiary, vocational, or technical students may be employed at any time of the year.
Student employment may be for from twenty (20) to fifty-two (52) working days only, except that during Christmas vacation employment is from ten (10) to fifteen (15) days.

“Poor but deserving students” are students whose parents’ combined income, together with the student’s own income if any, does not exceed the annual regional poverty threshold level for a family of six (6) for the preceding year.
The annual regional poverty threshold level is determined by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
Employment facilitation services for applicants are done by the Public Employment Service Office (PESO).
Participating employers must coordinate with PESO and must inform SPES employees of their rights, benefits, and privileges under existing laws, company policies, and employment contracts.

The standard SPES employment period is from twenty (20) to fifty-two (52) working days only.
During Christmas vacation, employment is limited to from ten (10) to fifteen (15) days.
Christmas vacation employment may be counted as part of the students’ probationary period if they apply in the same company or agency after graduation.
Students employed in activities related to their course may earn equivalent academic credits as determined by the appropriate government agencies.

Sixty per centum (60%) of the salary or wage is paid by employers in cash.
Forty per centum (40%) is paid by the government in the form of a voucher.
The education voucher is applicable in payment for tuition fees and books in any educational institution offering secondary, tertiary, vocational or technical education.
Local government units (LGUs) may assume responsibility for paying in full the student’s salary or wages.
The government pays the education voucher amount to the concerned educational institutions within thirty (30) days from presentation to the officer or agency designated by the Secretary of Finance.
The vouchers are not transferable, except when the payee dies or for a justifiable cause that stops the payee in duties, in which case the voucher can be transferred to the payee’s brothers or sisters.
If there are no brothers or sisters, the voucher amount shall be paid to the payee’s heirs or to the payee himself, as the case may be.

The following officials must issue the corresponding rules and regulations to carry out the purposes of the act: the Secretary of Labor and Employment, the Secretary of Education, the Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education, the Secretary of Budget and Management, the Secretary of Social Welfare and Development, and the Secretary of Finance.
The Secretary of Labor and Employment is designated as the Program Chairman.

The Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment must include in the Department’s program the operationalization of the expanded Special Program for the Employment of Students.
Funding is authorized for appropriation in the General Appropriations Act for 1992 and subsequent annual general appropriations acts.
Congress must not reduce the appropriation for the purposes of the act below the amount appropriated for the previous year.
After approval, the appropriation is automatically and regularly released.
The appropriation is increased by at least twenty per centum (20%) annually.

Any person or entity that refuses to honor education vouchers or makes any fraudulent or fictitious claim under the act is punished upon conviction with imprisonment of not less than six (6) months and not more than one (1) year and a fine of not less than Ten thousand pesos (P10,000.00).
Criminal liability applies regardless of whether payment has been made, and it is without prejudice to prosecution and punishment for other offenses punishable under the Revised Penal Code or any other penal statute.
For partnerships or corporations, the managing partner, general manager, or chief executive officer, as the case may be, is criminally liable.

If any provision or part of the act, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held invalid or unconstitutional, the remainder of the act or the application of such provision or part to other persons or circumstances is not affected.
All laws, orders, issuances, rules, and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with the act are repealed, amended, or modified accordingly.