Students, Sabah evacuees given summer jobs in ARMM

COTABATO CITY, Philippines -  The Department of Public Works and Highways in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has provided part-time employment to 400 students and qualified Moro deportees from Sabah under the agency’s summer job program.

The regional secretary of DPWH-ARMM, Engineer Emil Sadain, told reporters their part-time employees are now working under the supervision of the eight engineering districts scattered across the autonomous region.

The part-time workers are involved in the department’s “Oplan Linis Bayan,” which is focused on the cleanup of major thoroughfares straddling through ARMM towns.

Sadain said the operation aims to keep roads free from obstructions and maintain the cleanliness of different towns in the ARMM, which covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur Central Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Sadain said for 2013, the DPWH-ARMM made use of its generated savings to provide temporary jobs to the  400 part-time workers.

Sadain said ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman has ordered them to prioritize the employment of  enlistment of evacuees from Sabah and children of impoverished Moro and non-Moro communities.

Each of the region’s eight engineering districts hired 50 part-timers to augment the equal number of regular workforce engaged in road cleanup efforts, Sadain said, adding that the part-time workers receive a daily wage of P250.

Jam Santos, a second year college student in one of the universities in the region, said he is grateful that he was chosen to be included in the DPWH-ARMM’s summer job program.

“I am happy to be granted the opportunity to work and earn this vacation period,” he said.

Another student,  Nur Jihan Anton, said she would use her earnings to help pay for her enrollment in the coming school year.  - John Unson