By Chito A. Chavez The Quezon City government under the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) and the Government Internship program (GIP) will hire some 682 students and out-of-school youth and be assigned at various departments at the city hall. Mayor Herbert Bautista said the move is in response to the national government’s program in helping poor but deserving students pursue their education by providing them with employment during the summer months. According to Quezon City Public Employment Service Office (QC-PESO) project officer Helen Gonzales, the 380 students under SPES will earn the current minimum wage of which 60 percent will be given by the LGU while the 40 percent will be coming from the Department of Labor and Employment. The program will start on April 3 to May 2, 2018. The 302 students under the GIP will start reporting to work on April 3. They will be paid 75 percent of the current minimum wage. The SPES is open to all qualified high school, college, technology or vocational students, even dropouts who are interested to be employed. Applicants must be 15-25 years old, enrolled during the present school year/term or during the school year/term immediately preceding the summer vacation and must have garnered a passing grade. He/she may also be a school dropout who intends to continue his/her education. Provided, however, that the parents’ combined net income after taxes, including his own if any, does not exceed P36,000 per annum and  the reason for his being a school dropout is that his/her parents have been displaced due to business closure or work stoppage. The employers under the program could be any person or entity who has employed at least 50 workers at any given time during the past 12 months.