Former Las Piñas Representative Cynthia Villar. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines– Fresh investments and job opportunities will be the “best gift” that the government can give its workers on Labor Day, Team PNoy senatorial bet Cynthia Villar said on Tuesday.
And Villar said the Nacionalista Party (NP) being headed by her husband and outgoing Senator Manny Villar is committed to support President Benigno Aquino III’s reform agenda “to bring about good governance, an improved economy, more jobs and better services to the people, particularly the poor and the marginalized.”
NP has joined the administration coalition for the upcoming midterm elections.
“I believe the best Labor Day gift we can give our workers will be our commitment to pursue good governance which is a sure-fire formula to revitalize our economy and create the much needed jobs being clamored by our workers for a long time now,” Mrs. Villar said in a statement.
“Good governance will mean more investments and more investments will mean more jobs. That is what we intend to do in the next three years in our coalition partnership with President Aquino,” she said.
If elected in the Senate, Villar vowed to pursue her long-time advocacies of promoting livelihood opportunities through small and medium term business enterprises, and provide the necessary climate that would bring out more jobs and better social services.
To address the concerns affecting the over 12 million Filipino migrant workers abroad, Villar said she would also pursue the enactment of her legislative measure mandating the creation of the Department of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
She said it was essential for the executive department to have a separate department for OFWs to centralize all services and functions of OFW-related government agencies or bureaus.
Villar noted that a number of OFWs were reported to be maltreated by abusive employers and subjected to other forms of injustices.
Through the “Sagip OFW Program” of the Villar Foundation, where she sits as managing director, she said she has personally heard all the troubles and sad plight of migrant workers.
Meanwhile, Villar thanked the labor sector for declaring its support for her senatorial bid.
She said she was humbled by the support extended to her and seven other senatorial candidates by the Philippine Trade and General Workers Organization (PTGWO) under the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the biggest labor confederation in the country.
The workers’ group, which boasts a membership of 110 labor unions, declared its support for Villar and the other candidates in a general assembly at the TUCP headquarters in Quezon City last week.