IF elected, Vice President Jejomar Binay promised on Sunday that he would create two million jobs each year during his administration, or a total of 12 million jobs by 2022.
In a statement issued on Labor Day, Binay said that the creation of the 12 million jobs can be done by earmarking seven percent of the country’s gross domestic product for infrastructure development.
“We will spend at least P950 billion to P1 trillion every year for infrastructure projects. Government spending will not only spur economic activity, it will also create jobs. Government will be one of the biggest employers in the country,” Binay said.
The Vice President said that the P1 trillion set aside every year would be spent for infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, airports, railways, seaports and other necessary infrastructure.
Binay’s rivals Senator Grace Poe and administration standard-bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas II earlier promised to create 1 million jobs every year should they win the presidency.
The United Nationalist Alliance’s (UNA) presidential candidate said that he will bank on his experience as a long-time mayor of Makati City to implement his plan.
“My opponents will all say it cannot be done but I know it can be done on a national scale because I did it in Makati,” he said.
Binay said in his 21-year rule of Makati City as mayor, he implemented programs that made the country’s premier financial center more attractive to investors.
“By doing so, we created tens of thousands of jobs, provided free education and healthcare. We were able to do so because we collected taxes, used it for the welfare of the people, and moved Makati forward,” he said.
Aside from his grand job creation plan, the Vice President also promised to relax economic restrictions in the Constitution and shun underspending.
Unemployment remains one of the country’s pressing problems.
The Philippine Statistics Authority said that as of January 2016, the country’s employment is at 5.5 percent.
However, independent think-tank Ibon Foundation noted that under the current administration, fewer jobs were created.
Ibon said that from 2011 to 2015, only an average of 692,000 new jobs was created annually, which is much smaller than the 858,000 jobs created annually from 2001 to 2010.
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