Mega job fair to usher in Labor Month in West Visayas

Friday 13th of April 2012

ILOILO CITY, April 13 (PIA) -- Western Visayas is set to start its month-long commemoration of Labor Day on May 1 with a Mega Job Fair.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) hopes that the job fair would benefit more people especially those who have just graduated.

“We are expecting that more companies and overseas recruitment agencies will participate and more vacancies will be posted to accommodate a good number of job seekers including our graduates this year,” DOLE-6 director Ponciano Ligutom said in an agency’s press report.

According to the report, DOLE regional offices were enjoined to make sure that at least 15 percent of the total applicants registered are hired on the spot during the job fair.

DOLE-6 Information Officer Amalia Judicpa said Labor Day in the region has been expanded from a one-day event into a month-long commemoration due to the various activities that have been conceived and prepared by DOLE-6 with the support of its partner agencies and organizations.

“The month-long activities will give more significance to the event and more services to clientele,” said Judicpa.

Other activities lined up include Renewal of Professional ID Card & Filing of Application for Board Examinations for Teachers and Nurses, One-Stop Shop Passport Processing, Skills Demonstration and Filing of Application for National Certification (NC) & Scholarship under the TESDA, Medical/Dental & Massage Theraphy, and Free Overseas Call for Overseas Filipino Workers families and dependents.

A Help Desk will also be put up to provide free legal assistance to workers including overseas Filipino workers.

There will also be a career counseling and entrepreneurship forum that will be conducted every Friday afternoon for the whole month for high school students and jobseekers. The Iloilo Business Club and Iloilo Multi-Sectoral Business Organization have volunteered to lead these activities dubbed “Trabaho o Negosyo…Pili ka!”

Wrapping up the commemoration will be a food festival and a concert called “Gab-I sang Pasidungog kag Talento” on May 29 which will showcase the talents of the beneficiaries of the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) of DOLE and selected employees from the private sector. (JCM/LAF-PIA6)