Govt hired 300,000 from Jan. to Aug.

The government has provided jobs for more than 300,000 unemployed Filipinos from January to August of this year under the Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP), the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) reported Monday.

According to the commission’s secretary, Domingo Panganiban, the government has employed some 304,960 unemployed or underemployed Filipinos under the government’s emergency jobs program from January to August 14, up from 237,611 workers recorded in late June.

Panganiban cited President Gloria Arroyo’s order that the government employ more Filipinos to improve the country’s infrastructure systems and vital facilities.

Among all government agencies, he said that the Department of Agriculture has generated the most number of new employment opportunities for the poor as the agency was responsible for hiring around 89,518 laborers under the employment program as of the second week of August.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Panganiban added, ranked second with 65,377 workers hired.

Pointing to positive economic indicators, he said that President Arroyo’s decision to invest billions of pesos in the employment program has already begun to reap dividends.

Government target

“We are very confident that the Arroyo government will meet its targets for the President’s emergency jobs program this year,” Panganiban added.

He said that the government has set aside around P7.3 billion of the P13.7 billion allocated to national agencies for the program.

Panganiban added that the Agriculture department has been the biggest investor in the employment program, obligating more than P5 billion to the effort, followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) with P838 million.

Based on the latest report of the anti-poverty commission to the President, he said that the government has managed to ensure a 54-percent utilization rate for the public funds allocated under the program.

“The money that the national government has already spent on the program is now serving to improve the country’s roads and transport systems, make food available at affordable prices and keep the economy going amid the global economic crisis,” Panganiban added. — Ira Karen Apanay, Manila Times