Next admin must prioritize jobs, says Romualdez

SENATORIAL candidate Martin G. Romualdez said that job creation should be the main agenda of the next administration.

Romualdez cited the Social Weather Stations (SWS) report which showed that unemployment had reached 21.4 percent or 9.1 million Filipinos.

He said this was the highest unemployment rate since the country posted a 15.8 percent unemployment rate in 2004.

“The next administration should hit the ground running and spare no effort to create more jobs as part of a comprehensive strategy to minimize, if not eradicate, mass poverty,” Romualdez said in a statement.

Romualdez said the high unemployment rate had stolen some of the shine from the country’s rosy economic data under this administration.

“The current administration has been saying all along that the economy is on the upswing. But where’s the promised jobs for our labor force?” Romualdez asked.

Romualdez said that for economic growth to be really meaningful, it should generate more jobs and reduce the ranks of the poor.

“Government should show more compassion or malasakit for those who barely have enough for their daily survival because they have very little or no income at all,” the lawmaker said.

Romualdez, a three-term congressman of the First District in Leyte, is running for a seat in the Senate on a platform anchored on compassionate governance.

His Senate bid is endorsed by two presidential candidates, UNA’s Jejomar Binay and PDP-Laban’s Rodrigo Duterte. Gil Cabacungan