Pinoys told to remain optimistic

MANILA, Philippines - Filipinos must be optimistic in facing the global financial crisis, Malacañang said yesterday.

Speaking over government-run radio dzRB, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the fact that the peso has outperformed most emerging market currencies is a very good development.

“There is much to be optimistic for despite the backlash from the global financial crisis,” he said.

Remonde said the peso’s performance was driven by increases in dollar remittances from abroad.

“We still expect a major improvement in our balance of payments or BOP surplus,” he said.

Remonde said the administration’s Economic Resiliency Plan, which includes the Comprehensive Livelihood Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP), will help the nation weather the crisis.

“If only we look and listen hard enough, we will learn that there is good news around us, despite the dire predictions of our harsher critics,” he said.

Remonde said the latest Pulse Asia survey showed that the number of Filipinos with an optimistic outlook sharply increased to 29 percent from 22 percent last year.

Another survey by Synovate, an international market research company, showed that optimism is particularly pronounced in Metro Manila among people who are usually critical or cynical in their thinking, he added.

Meanwhile, the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) announced that some 6,000 more Filipinos have found new jobs under the government’s CLEEP from March to the middle of April.

In a statement, Secretary Domingo Panganiban, NAPC chief, said the latest reports from the field indicate that around 6,673 more Filipinos were hired to work on CLEEP projects from March 23 to April 13 this year.

“That is an average of more than 300 jobs a day for 21 consecutive days,” he said.

Panganiban said the latest batch of workers brings the total number of Filipinos hired under the President’s emergency employment program to 81,689.

“As of the end of the first quarter this year, our plans call for initial public investments amounting to over P10 billion,” he said.  

Panganiban said the government has put laborers to work on port projects, the construction of farm-to-market roads, the construction and maintenance of Tindahan Natin outlets, the rehabilitation of irrigation systems and hospital facilities, and the establishment of micro-enterprises.

“These investments will finance projects that will in turn create jobs for an estimated 280,686 unemployed or underemployed Filipinos nationwide,” he said.

Panganiban said a vast number of Filipino families have already benefited from the various public works and services generated under President Arroyo’s CLEEP effort.

“CLEEP projects are not only designed to create jobs for poor and underprivileged Filipinos, they are also meant to improve basic services and encourage private investments, which we need to keep our economy strong and forward moving,” he said.

“The President began to lay out the basic framework and intent of the CLEEP as early as October last year.  

“That gave the Cabinet ample time to make all the necessary administrative and logistical preparations prior to actual implementation in January of this year.”

– Paolo Romero