Government eyes to restore 1-M lost jobs in 'post-COVID-19 recovery plan'
MANILA, Philippines — As the economy slowly reopens starting Friday, the Duterte administration has also begun crafting a P25-billion job restoration program which aims to revive 1 million jobs displaced by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The “recovery plan,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said on Thursday, will be targeted on workers in the provinces as part of the government’s “Balik-Probinsya program” aimed at encouraging people to relocate outside the capital to decongest Metro Manila.
“The focus of the program will be restoration of lost jobs first, before creation of new ones,” Marianito Roque, former labor chief serving as special consultant to Bello, said in an online briefing.
As it is however, the program is already looking insufficient to help all displaced employees by the outbreak and the local and national lockdowns that shuttered businesses. Labor data showed a total of 2.3 million workers let out of their jobs as of Tuesday, although not all of them are seen to remain jobless after the pandemic.
Under the program, Roque said employees of micro-, small- and medium- enterprises (MSMEs) will be prioritized for relocation to construction of public infrastructure projects expected to go in full-blast after the outbreak response.
MSMEs, including sari-sari stores and community pharmacies among others, account for 98% of total firms in the country, and employ a huge chunk of the labor force.
In particular, Bello said he will ask the public works department to “increase the manpower” on each state projects by “at least 10-20%”, which will be done by ditching common machineries in construction and putting more people in their place.
This early however, Ibarra Paulino, executive director at Philippine Constructors Association, an industry group whose members claim to account for 80% of state projects, said the plan would likely go against social distancing measures foreseen to stay in place for months after the lockdown.
“I figure that the works will also be limited to manual labor so basically restricted to clean up/ de-clogging of drainage facilities, waterways and clearing metro streets with obstructions,” Paulino told Philstar.com in a text message.
Be that as it may, Bello said the labor agency is prepared to pay the workers for three to four months equivalent to the “median” range of present minimum wages which will still be computed. Projects whose manpower will be augmented are also currently being determined with public works officials.
“We have to work with other departments…Also, there should be local recruitment through the LGUs (local government units),” Roque said.
The recovery plan is still also subject to approval by the interagency task force on emerging infectious diseases, which acts as the state policymaking body during the outbreak.
Immediate relief
So far, Bello said his agency has been focused on providing immediate relief assistance to workers through lump-sum cash aid. This includes the COVID-19 Adjustment Program, which has so far assisted “more than 400,000 workers”, with “over 200,000” still awaiting aid. Earlier, the agency said about 650,000 will be assisted by CAMP.
For displaced migrant workers, Bello said about 150,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) would be assisted through the department’s cumulative budget of P1.5 billion. On Wednesday, it was said around 70,000 had been subsidized, but Bello said there are already “300,000 plus” OFWs needing assistance.
“We will try our best to ask for additional funds but if that will not be granted, then we cannot do anything. Our funds are only limited,” Bello said.
Informal workers are likewise getting aid through the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Displaced/Disadvantaged Workers where new funding of P1.5 billion was announced to help an additional 200,000 workers.
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