MANILA, Philippines--Labor Secretary Marianito Roque on Monday scoffed at the projection of economist and former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno that the global financial crisis would render 11 million Filipinos jobless.

In a press briefing Monday, Roque said the 11 million figure was incredible. "It's a huge figure. We have not reached that figure in a long time ... It's four-fold the current unemployment rate," said Roque.

According to Labor department data, there are around 2.6 million jobless Filipinos.

"We will have people affected by the financial crisis, but not in that magnitude," he added. "Let us not scare ourselves."

Recently, Diokno said said the unemployment numbers in the Philippines could reach 11 million as the recession deepens in 2009. He said jobs will be lost in the the manufacturing, telecommunications, and banking sectors.

Pressed to provide hard data on the unemployment prospects for 2009, Roque declined, saying the department is in the middle of a survey of labor conditions in all industries. The Secretary said they will release the data before the end of January.

Based on initial reports, Roque said the number of Filipinos affected by the crisis is "not that huge."

"It is within manageable level. Our safety nets can handle it," he added, noting that the labor department has prepared livelihood programs and loans for workers that will be laid off.

The labor chief said the export-oriented sectors of electronics and garments will feel the brunt of the crisis, adding that the coconut oil industry will also suffer. Since late last year, companies in export zones have cut down working hours and shed workers as their major markets, Europe and the United States, went into recession. Overseas Filipino workers from export economies like Taiwan were also affected.

The labor department said 3,500 workers from 70 companies, mostly Taiwanese firms, have been laid off from October to December 2008. Labor officials in Taiwan said 5,000 to 6,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan could be retrenched by June.

Roque said the Philippine economy remains "resilient" and businessmen are confident of their outlook in 2009, hence they do not believe that the unemployment data could balloon to 11 million.

While there will be losses in the electronics and garment industries, there will be employment gains in the retail and business process outsourcing sectors, Roque said.

"The loss in some sectors can be compensated by some gains," he said.

Deployment abroad will also continue and the Philippines is negotiating for entry of Filipino workers in new destinations like Bulgaria and Romania, labor officials said. Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) administration Jennifer Manalili said the POEA is maintaining its pre-crisis daily deployment of 3,647 Filipinos up to this day.

In 2008, the POEA approved 650,563 job orders. Of that number, 389,014 remains unfilled, Manalili said.

The POEA chief said most of the job orders are in sectors that will not be affected by the recession. The top orders are professional, technical workers as well as administrative and managerial workers.