House panel OKs bill on waiving job requirement fees for graduates
By Charmaine A. Tadalan
Reporter
THE HOUSE Committee on Labor and Employment has approved the bill seeking to provide assistance to new graduates by waiving government fees charged from pre-employment requirements.
“Kapag new graduate ka, may fees na hinihingi ang government, within one year dapat free,” Committee Chair Randolph S. Ting of the 3rd district of Cagayan told BusinessWorld over phone interview on Sunday. (When you’re a new graduate, there are fees charged by the government, which through this bill should be free within one year).
House Bill No. 172 proposes to waive said fees, provided that documents are filed in connection with job applications and must be within one year from graduation from high school, college or any vocational or technical course.
This will cover government issued documents such as police clearance, National Bureau of Investigation clearance, and Social Security System ID, among others.
The benefit, however, will not be waived if the application is for the issuance of a Philippine passport or for the purpose of taking professional licensure examinations conducted by the Professional Regulation Commission.
Sought for comment, the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) said it supports the measure, which is seen to open “wider opportunities” for new graduates.
“The bill removes sheets of major layers that encumbers and discourages fresh graduates, particularly those who spring from poor but striving families and highly skilled from entering the workforce and become productive citizens,” ALU-TUCP Spokesperson Alan A. Tanjusay told BusinessWorld over phone message, Sunday.
“In the past decades, maraming fresh graduates na magagaling at highly qualified to work in the formal economy pero hindi natanggap at first few instances dahil walang pambayad at walang pambili ng government IDs and documents,” he also said. (In the past decades, there were a number of fresh graduates who were good and highly qualified to work in the formal economy but were not accepted in the first few instances because they couldn’t afford government IDs and documents).
