MANILA, Philippines—Does the Filipino breadwinner have a fallback position in case he loses his job amid the deepening global economic crisis?
Yes, he does, according to the government. He can start his own business, such as a piggery, corner store or food cart.
Or he could probably join the Arroyo administration’s army of street sweepers.
The choices are many under an emergency employment and livelihood program that the administration has drafted in preparation for the full impact of the economic storm hitting the country this year.
“The entire government machinery is now gearing up to address and prepare for the problems that we will face in 2009,” Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said on Radyo ng Bayan Sunday.
Quoting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, he said: “The best buffer we have to external vulnerability is our own domestic strength.”
A vital part of the government’s strategy is the implementation of emergency employment and livelihood projects contained in Memorandum Circular No. 168 dated Oct. 23, 2008.
In the memorandum, the President directed all Cabinet officials to “implement pro-poor programs in all regions.”
“All departments and national agencies are directed to mobilize all their remaining resources, including contingency funds, to finance pro-poor programs,” Ms Arroyo said.
“The intended beneficiaries of these emergency work programs shall be the middle class, middle-low income class, and the poorest of the poor.”
The order tasked each of her Cabinet secretaries with spearheading the project in specific provinces.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, for example, was assigned to Pangasinan for the “Botika ng Barangay” program and the use “human resources for repair and rehabilitation of health facilities.”
Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza was tapped to work on a microfinance livelihood program for jeepney drivers in northern Metro Manila and Batangas, his home province.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap was assigned to Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and La Union for livelihood programs involving organic fertilizer and irrigation.
Dureza said the Department of Trade and Industry was also into programs teaching the public on how to start a business and related areas such as preparing financial statements.
Cash-transfer scheme
He described such efforts as “immediate interventions for those who might lose jobs because of the crisis.”
To go with the emergency work program, the government has doubled its existing P5-billion conditional cash transfer scheme for 2009.
The extra fund is meant to benefit an additional one million school kids in the 20 poorest provinces.
Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said the amount would help the kids attend school and receive vaccines on a regular basis.
Dureza said the government was also banking on the private sector to cushion the impact of the crisis.
Ralph Recto, director general of the National Economic and Development Authority, earlier said that the private sector would adopt a “wait-and-see” attitude during the first six months of 2009 to gauge how the crisis would affect the domestic economy.
During this period, he said it was important for the government to step in and mobilize its resources for infrastructure and social services. He said doing so would generate confidence within the private sector.
Malacañang was hoping that Congress would immediately pass the proposed P1.415-trillion national budget on which all development projects would depend.
