Senator Richard J. Gordon on Monday called for the passage of a bill that he said would boost job creation.
In his Labor Day message, the senator said the passage of Senate Bill 1325 or the Regional Investment and Infrastructure Corporation (RIIC) Act of Central Luzon would help create more jobs in the region through better utilization of available resources.
The proposed government corporation seeks to create an investment and infrastructure corridor in Central Luzon that would utilize infrastructure that are already in place to encourage entrepreneurship and open up business opportunities.
“With our country having the right population age, we really should strive to create better job opportunities that would encourage our countrymen to find their future in our own Filipinas so they won’t have to find their future in foreign shores,” Gordon said.
“If we get the most out of this very important asset, the Philippines could be propelled towards a first-world country status,” he added.
Gordon, chairman of the Senate committee on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises, emphasized that the bill also seeks to improve the quality of life for workers.
“With investors required to put up housing near the workplace for their employees, workers won’t have to spend long hours traveling to and from work because they can just bicycle to work,” he said.
The country celebrates Labor Day on Tuesday with several issues hounding the labor sector and Filipino migrant workers.
While in Singapore for the Asean Summit last week, President Rodrigo Duterte urged 260,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Kuwait to return home in the wake of diplomatic tensions between the two countries. /ee