Gov’t vows to create 17,000 new jobs for road repairs

The government vowed yesterday to create over 17,000 new jobs for poor Filipinos and out-of-school youths through its road and infrastructure maintenance project to be implemented jointly by various departments and agencies.

President Arroyo’s Cabinet secretaries signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the implementation of the Roadside Maintenance - Job Creation Program (RMJCP), which they said was part of her 10-point agenda for the administration.

Under the project, unemployed Filipinos will be hired for operations involving road repair, drainage clearing and maintenance and road and sidewalk beautification such as planting trees and roadside painting. They will be deployed to strategic areas in Metro Manila and provinces in Central and Southern Luzon for eight months starting on May 15.

The government is spending at least P500 million for the project and would pay each worker P231 per day.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is tasked to spearhead and fund the implementation of RMJCP through an allocation from motor vehicle users charge fund of the Road Board, according to Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., who led the signing of contract.

Other agencies involved in the project are: The Office of the Presidential Adviser for Job Creation (OPAJC), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and Philippine National Police (PNP).

A task force to oversee and coordinate the implementation of the project was also created under the supervision of OPAJC Secretary Arthur Yap, who was also recently appointed chief of Presidential Management Staff (PMS).

"Emergency employment is very much needed at this point in time," Yap said at the news conference that followed the MOA signing. "This is in tandem with other pump-priming job creation programs that are being undertaken by the administration."

Apart from Ebdane and Yap, other government executives who signed the agreement at the DPWH central office in Port Area, Manila included Secretaries Rolando Andaya Jr. of DBM, Esperanza Cabral of DSWD, and Conrado Limcaoco Jr. of PIA; DILG Undersecretary Melchor Rosales and PNP chief Director General Arturo Lomibao, and MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando.

"What we are giving is a chance for poor Filipinos to earn a living in a better way," Cabral told reporters.

Fernando said the project would "provide skills training to Filipinos" while Lomibao believes it would "lessen criminality."

The MMDA chief said they would take charges of the hiring, training, deployment, ground supervision and control of recruited workers for the NCR.

The agency will also conduct the preparation and approval of the program of work, plans, scope, specifications and cost estimates of the project for the region.

The DILG, on the other hand, will conduct the monitoring, evaluation and performance assessment of RMJCP, and is also tasked to recommend appropriate actions and measures for the improvement of the entire program.

For its part, the DSWD will provide manpower requirements in coordination with the DILG, local government units and PNP through recruitment of qualified workers. It is also responsible for screening applicants. — With Nestor Etolle