Solons urge DOLE to prioritize jobs for Pinoys
SENATORS urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to prioritize various industries that will give jobs and employment to the Filipino people.
Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, who presides over the Finance Subcommittee G hearing on the proposed 2023 budget of DOLE amounting to P25.9 billion, asked labor officials to provide a database of industries that “died” not because of the COVID-19 pandemic because of a lack of support for equipment and capital so that funding can be earmarked to resuscitate these industries.
Legarda said to revive the “dying” salt industry, a database of coastal communities should help identify the areas where the new technology of salt-making could be taught.
She also pointed out that the lockdown during the pandemic is not necessarily bad because jobs were created in the provinces with the help of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s sustainable livelihood program, the Department of Trade and Industry’s shared services facilities, the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) Community Empowerment for Science and Technology, DOLE’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/ Displaced Workers (TUPAD), among others.
“With judicious, efficient, and transparent use of government resources, we will be able to create jobs, but we need the database in different provinces,” Legarda said as she asked DOLE to provide all the necessary materials needed considering that unemployment is an issue now.
Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, for his part, asked DOLE to explain the decrease in employment in several sectors, particularly in the construction industry, despite the aggressive implementation of the Build, Build, Build (BBB) program of the Duterte administration.
Citing the Labor Force Survey in August 2022 of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Villanueva said the top five sub-sectors with the largest decrease in employment were noted in the following: agriculture and forestry, 140,000; fishing and aquaculture, 124,000; construction, 81,000; manufacturing 48,000; and information and communication, 12,000.
“I wonder what we are doing that even the construction sector exhibits a downturn despite the fact that we moved not just on ‘Build, Build, Build’ but ‘Build Better More’. Are we doing something about this? ” Villanueva asked DOLE to explain.
DOLE Chief Bienvenido Laguesma said the purpose of the consultation being conducted by the department with the business and labor sectors is to identify the industries that will create jobs and opportunities.
Sen. Francis Tolentino seeks assurance from the labor officials on the timely and effective implementation of its programs that aims to assist the country’s labor force, particularly the displaced, underemployed, and seasonal workers.
Tolentino sought assurance in connection with a Commission on Audit (COA) report about unused, unreleased and unobligated appropriations in the 2020 and 2021 budgets under the Office of DOLE secretary.
The labor secretary assured the committee that funds to be allocated by Congress for the programs of DOLE would be implemented prudently and on time.
