20% Discount On Fees For Job Applicants Pushed

Rep. Rolando G. Andaya Jr. (1st District, Camarines Sur) is pushing for the passage of a bill granting 20 percent discount to indigent job applicants in the required fees for the processing of government documents for employment.

Under House Bill 5717, indigent job applicant shall be given a 20-percent discount in processing clearances from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine National Police (PNP) and the barangay.

Likewise, the job applicant shall also be charged 20-percent less in processing medical certificate from the Department of Health (DOH), Certificates of Marriage and or Birth from the National Statistics Office (NSO) or the Local Civil Registry (LCR) and Certificate of Birth of the indigent applicant’s one (1) dependent.

Covered by the bill are job applicants who are seeking gainful employment and have no visible means of income or whose income is insufficient for the subsistence of their families.

Andaya said the least the government can do to lessen the financial burden of indigent Filipino job applicants is to grant them discounts in acquiring pre-employment documents.

“Reducing the processing fee of these documents encourages them to look for jobs in order to become productive members of society,” Andaya said.

The bill penalizes any person, government entity, agency or hospital who refuses or fails to provide the discount with imprisonment of not less than six months but not more than one year or a fine of not less than PHP10,000 but not more than PHP50,000 or both.

However, any job applicant who misinterprets his or her status or falsifies his or her document just to avail of the discount shall be punished with imprisonment of not less than six months but not more than one year or a fine of not less than PHP5,000 but not more than PHP10,000 or both. (PNA) FFC/PR/EBP