Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Job creation is more important for the Philippines and not just economic growth, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said Wednesday.
“As of now we are growing, that is visible now, [but] growth alone is not enough,” Enrile told reporters when asked about the recent statement from the World Bank that the Philippines is “a rising tiger.”
World Bank Philippines Country Director Motoo Konishi had said in a press conference that the country was “no longer the sick man of Asia, but the rising tiger,” and that the country’s economy was “going strong despite the global uncertainty.”
Enrile said that “[Growth] must go down to a wider level of the people because the growth will be concentrated among the affluent members of the society, how about the poor people, yung mga mahihirap paano yun?”
In order for the growth to be felt by Filipinos, there should be jobs for them, he said.
“Our objective should not only be for the economy to grow but it should grow for the majority and for it to grow for the many, we need jobs, job creation is important and not just figures,” Enrile said.
“Nadagdagan mo nga [yung growth], wala namang hanap-buhay yung iba, kailangan ng hanap buhay ng mga nakakarami ng mga Pilipino para sa ganun maramdaman nila yung pag-angat ng ekonomiya,” he said.
The Philippine economy had grown by 6.6 percent in 2012 making it among the best performing countries in Asia.
There were however a greater number of unemployed and underemployed Filipinos in 2012, according to statistics by independent think-tank IBON Foundation.
“IBON estimates that the number of unemployed Filipinos increased by 48,000 to reach 4.4 million and the number of underemployed by 349,000 to reach 7.5 million in 2012 – for a total of 11.9 million unemployed and underemployed,” IBON said in a recent statement.
“Jobs and higher wages are the best mechanisms for inclusive growth, which can only be achieved with well-developed Filipino industry and equitable agricultural development,” it said.
Enrile said that unless the growth goes down to the masses, the country will not really feel the effects of the economic growth.