MANILA, Philippines — Government projects for economic pump-priming are intended to create 800,000 temporary jobs, more than half a million of which will be in services at the Department of Public Works and Highways, according to the communiqué signed by participants in a jobs summit.
The labor department has monitored about 50,000 Filipino workers here and abroad directly affected by the world financial crisis since October. Economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto has said the jobs at risk are estimated at 800,000.
Participants to the jobs summit held in Malacañang also called on Congress to support the commitments by passing a bill on an economic stimulus package.
According to the communiqué, the following emergency employment positions are to be created:
• 506,082 at the Department of Public Works and Highways and 27,222 in the department’s its roadside maintenance program employing out-of-school youths
• 100,000 at the Department of Education and the state universities and colleges' repair of classrooms and school buildings
• 81,134 in the Department of Agriculture's irrigation projects, 36,500 in farm-to-market road projects, 10,400 in organic fertilizer production, and 3,645 in goat dispersal
• 35,000 in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Bantay-Gubat [Forest Watch] and a project for displaced upland workers
• 23,550 in Department of Labor and Employment projects under the Tulong Hanapbuhay [Livelihood Aid] for Disadvantaged Workers and the Integrated Services for Livelihood and Advancement of Fisherfolk
• 1,022 in Laguna Water Lily Development of the Department of Trade and Industry.
The seven-page communiqué, a copy of which the labor department provided reporters, also said 80,000 to 100,000 jobs would be created in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.
It said foreseen was job creation in other "buoyant" industries — food manufacture, tourism, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare.
Its signatories, who included representatives of the business sector, labor (formal and informal sectors), the academe, church-based groups, nongovernmental organizations, and the government, expressed support for efforts of recruiters and manning agencies and trade unions to fill up 400,000 overseas positions in active job orders listed at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
The communiqué lists more than P3 billion worth of safety nets for workers, namely:
• P1 billion from the Land Bank of the Philippines' “Negosyo Program for Global Financial Crisis Affected Workers" and the Development Bank of the Philippines' Livelihood Program
• P1 billion from the loan portfolio of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration's “Filipino Expatriate Livelihood Support Fund”
• P1.38 billion from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Livelihood Investment in support of displaced workers in the uplands
• P402 million from the labor department's Integrated Livelihood Program
• P50 million for the labor department's Reintegration Program
• P3.5 million under the Department of Energy's Micro-Finance for the Transport Sector.
The participants in the Malacañang-sponsored jobs summit called on the central bank to provide incentives to participating banks providing credit to the sectors affected by the crisis.
They added, "We pursue policies toward providing tax breaks and incentives to business, through administrative action for the waiver of liquidation requirements for imported materials of export products sold in DTI [Department of Trade and Industry]-sponsored trade fairs [for cancelled orders]."
The participants to the jobs summit also supported a proposal to allocate 1.5 percent of the 2009 operating budget of government agencies solely for temporary hiring of displaced workers and their dependents for projects.
They said local government united must assist displaced workers in one-stop workers’ assistance centers in places severely affected by the crisis, such as Calamba City in Laguna province, Rosario town in Cavite, Angeles City in Pampanga, and Cebu City.
The other items on the communiqué contained "commitments and deliverables" at a jobs summit sponsored by the labor department two Fridays ago. To monitor these commitments, the summit participants agreed to establish a secretariat and hold regular consultative meetings among themselves.
They committed support for efforts to cut the cost of doing business by bringing down the costs of power, automating import/export processing, and facilitating transactions for import permits for companies not registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, among others.
The signatories called for credit guarantee from the Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency and the Small Business Corp.
They also called for intensified action against smuggling.
