Emergency job program to hire 93,000 workers

MANILA, Philippines – Government agencies will hire some 93,000 unemployed or underemployed Filipinos this year for a P1.77-billion roadside maintenance program in line with President Arroyo’s call for agencies to strengthen the country’s economic foundation in the face of continuing uncertainties in the global economy and international labor markets, Malacañang announced yesterday.

National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary Domingo Panganiban said the move was in line with the development plans of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Arroyo emergency job plan under the Economic Resiliency Program (ERP).

“The country’s national roads are essential to the strength and stability of the economy, helping to encourage investments and create jobs for a vast number of the Filipino poor,” Panganiban said.

“While experts have noted signs of recovery in the global economy, now is not the time for complacency,” the NAPC chief said. “We are still in the thick of what is probably the worst economic slump in modern history.”

NAPC, which is under the Office of the President, oversees the Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP), launched by Mrs. Arroyo in October 2008 to address the need for new jobs as a result of the global economic meltdown.

The Arroyo government has assured the availability of jobs and employment opportunities for poor Filipinos amid the global economic slowdown through the employment program.

The President has cited ERP and CLEEP as priority programs that the government is vigorously implementing.

Mrs. Arroyo had said that local government units (LGUs), in partnership with the private sector, are working doubly hard in creating and maintaining jobs as well as in investing on vital infrastructures, livelihood programs and other economic activities that will help generate more employment.

Panganiban said the new hires would work on some 30,000 kilometers of national roads under the Out of School Youth Towards Economic Recovery (OYSTER) program of the DPWH.

“The workers will see to the maintenance of around 30,000 kilometers of national roads under OYSTER Program of the DPWH,” Panganiban said.

Panganiban said the DPWH had already met a considerable portion of its emergency employment targets and was able to hire 42,930 workers for various roadside maintenance projects nationwide as of Sept. 30 this year.

He said the government plans for the employment of some 59,968 roadside maintenance workers in Luzon while 14,120 more laborers are put to work in roadside projects in the Visayas.

“Another 19,120 workers will be employed in roadside maintenance projects across the island-region of Mindanao,” Panganiban said. –Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star)