DOLE-GIP, a career game changer for Sara

Sarah Mae H. Tago, former Government Internship Program (GIP) beneficiary turned GIP Program Coordinator assigned at the Department of Labor and Employment-X - Misamis Occidental Provincial Field Office, Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental. (Mis. Occ. PFO) (Photo by: ARC/DOLE MOPFO)

“Who would have thought that GIP could be a game changer for my career!” said Sarah Mae H. Tago, a former Government Internship Program (GIP) beneficiary to a GIP Program Coordinator II at the Department of Labor and Employment Misamis Occidental (DOLE-MisOcc).

Former GIP beneficiary Sarah Mae H. Tago was promoted as GIP Program Coordinator II on 1 April 2024.

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE-X) - Misamis Occidental Provincial Field Office (MisOcc PFO) Chief Ebba B. Acosta said Sarah Mae, a 23-year-old, a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Financial Management was accepted as an intern in the DOLE MisOcc Provincial Field Office on 1 September 2023 to 6 December 2023.

Acosta said Sarah Mae showed good potential as a public servant with her tasks on assisting the different programs of the department notably on GIP and DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program. She was then offered a Job Order position as an office clerk in the said PFO. After a few months, she was promoted as a Coordinator.

“I applied for the job opportunity from DOLE-X to gain work experience after some time being unable to find work," she said.

At the same time, she was urgently looking for income to help financially support her family, since she said during that time, her father had been unemployed due to stroke and her mother, a small retail vendor, could not make ends meet for her family especially when they only rely on the small sales from the store and the monthly allowance from Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Sarah Mae’s perseverance and diligence coupled with prayers paid off when she also passed the Civil Service Examination last March 2024.

DOLE-GIP is governed by DOLE Administrative Order No. 39, Series of 2014, which provides opportunities and engages young workers to serve the public in government agencies and entities' projects and programs at the national and local levels. (DOLE-X Misamis Occidental Provincial Field Office)

Department of Labor and Employment-10 (DOLE-10) Misamis Occidental Provincial Field Office (Mis. Occ. PFO) Provincial Chief Ebba Borbon-Acosta (right) together with Sarah Mae H. Tago (left), former Government Internship Program (GIP) beneficiary turned GIP program coordinator (Photo by: ARC/DOLE MOPFO)