Angara asks President to sign law that will protect first-time jobseekers

Reelectionist Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara on Tuesday urged President Rodrigo Duterte to sign into law the proposed First Time Jobseekers Act.

The measure primarily seeks to exempt first-time jobseekers from paying fees on government-issued documents in connection with their job application.

Angara said the enrolled copy of the proposed First-Time Jobseekers Act has already been sent to Malacañang for the President’s signature.

Once it becomes a law, the senator said about 1.3 million first-time job applicants would be exempted from paying for job requirements such as police clearance, NBI clearance, barangay clearance, medical certificate from public hospitals, birth and marriage certificates, tax identification number, community tax certificate, certification of eligibility, multipurpose ID card, and other documentary

requirements issued by the government that may be required by employers.

Angara, who is running for reelection in the upcoming May 13, 2019 midterm elections, said securing all these government-issued documents was inordinately expensive for people without regular income.

The lawmaker said he was hoping that the bill would be enacted soon and its implementing rules and regulations expedited, so that recent graduates who wish to work could avail of the benefits under the measure.

“Searching for a job can be costly and this measure can help to ease a bit the financial burden first-time jobseekers are faced with,” Angara said.

“The costs of looking for work often lead to perverse outcome where jobseekers, having fallen into debt to meet these costs, find themselves worse off before and even unable to pay for basic like food,” Angara pointed out.

Angara said studies show that job applicants pay as much as R2,000 for employment requirements, a bulk of which goes to government-issued documents.

Under the bill, those who can avail of the incentive are new graduates who completed the K-12 program, a bachelor’s degree or a technical-vocational course from any school, college, university or technical-vocational institution in the country.

“Students taking a leave of absence or those working part-time while enrolled are also qualified to avail of the benefits,” according to Angara.

The bill also mandates the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) in every province, city and municipality to assist first-time jobseekers in securing all required documents for their job application, certification or clearance, and in registering or enrolling them with relevant government agencies, such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Social Security System (SSS), Pag-IBIG, PhilHealth, among others.