The Lucena City Public Employment Services Office (PESO) on Monday announced that it targets to facilitate the hiring of at least 200 unemployed individuals during the one-day Kalayaan Job Fair, held at the SM mall in this town on Independence Day. In an interview, PESO Manager Cristina Encina said that as of 12 noon on June 12, a total of 35 applicants have already been hired on the spot by different prospective employers. “We have 40 partner companies for this job fair that we made sure are all compliant to all regulations set by the Department of Labor and Employment,” Encina said. Companies and agencies looking for new hires include; Sanford Corp., Supervalue Inc., UnionBank, JMar Herbs Inc. and other government agencies including Bureau of Internal Services, PhilHealth, Social Security System, and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology – Male Dorm. Encina added that participating companies are looking to fill more vacancies than Lucena can likely provide. For this reason, she said that job seekers from neighboring towns are also welcome at the job fair. Meanwhile, DOLE-Quezon Officer Edwin Hernandez said at the event that all firms taking part in the job fair have no pending labor cases. He noted that all participating companies are complying with the minimum wage law, which is PHP429 per day in Region 4A (Calabarzon). However, he noted that employers with only nine employees or less are exempt from this regulation
Source: Philippines News Agency
