Villanueva

Solons call for long-term ‘jobs plan’ for PH

January 24, 2023 PS Jun M. Sarmiento 191 views

SENATE Majority Leader Joel Villanueva presided over the Economic Affairs Subcommittee’s hybrid hearing Tuesday, January 24, 2023, on Senate Bill (SB) No. 129 or the “Trabaho Para sa Lahat ng Pilipino Act,” which seeks to institutionalize the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) of the country to address the social and economic issues brought about by the pandemic, and the challenges and opportunities brought about by new technologies.

Villanueva expressed hope that through the establishment of a framework for the national employment action plan, it could create an enabling environment that will support the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), develop general interventions as well as targeted measures that will ensure the employability and competitiveness of the country’s workforce.

During the public hearing, Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito urged concerned agencies to consider ongoing and future government infrastructure projects in crafting long-term plans for jobs recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.

He noted the impact of infrastructure development on job creation and economic growth.

JV cited, for instance, the ongoing railway projects, which, he said, could spread out development throughout the country. “Once we finish all of these, we will create growth development areas, growth nodes in every province.”

Meanwhile, Ejercito called on agencies to look at and prioritize industries that emerged post-pandemic in crafting the NERS.

Sen. Nancy Binay called on the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to craft a long-term Philippine Development Plan (PDP) that would nurture the growing labor force in the country.

The PDP, presented by NEDA at the beginning of each administration, is a medium-term plan for deep economic and social transformation to reinvigorate job creation and accelerate poverty reduction.

Binay pointed out that improving the country’s labor force and making them more “competitive” would take more than years of planning.

“Six years is too short. I think that’s where the problem comes from because the timeline that we’ve set for planning is too short,” Binay said in Filipino.

Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Susan “Toots” V. Ople called for the synergy of domestic and overseas employment plans and strategies of the government as she expressed her support for SB No. 129, or the “Trabaho Para sa Lahat ng Pilipino Act” authored by Villanueva.

Ople illustrated some reasons and the importance of inter-agency collaboration.

“There should be a synergy between the domestic or national employment plans and strategies with our own overseas employment program. We believe that having this inter-agency that will look at the employment acceleration and expansion of employment opportunities will complement the program, which is very important,” Ople said.

“We need an employment plan, a very clear long-term and medium-term employment strategies to increase the participation of women in the Philippine labor force so that they will have an alternative to leave the country as domestic workers,” she added.