Government to boost local employment programs

MANILA, Philippines - This year, the government is strengthening programs for the promotion of local employment as well as those that would give jobs to workers displaced by tropical storm “Sendong.”

Labor Undersecretary Danny Cruz said the government had given emergency employment to 10,000 people from disaster-affected areas.

Last year, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) released about P27.6 million for its Integrated Livelihood Assistance Program and Emergency Employment Program (EEP) to create jobs in at least six regions affected by recent typhoons.

Under the EEP, the labor department provides funds to local government units for the hiring of displaced workers to clean and repair waterways, roads, and other government infrastructure.

DOLE is also looking into measures that will create more permanent employment with better salaries and working conditions.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said that while almost two million jobs were created in 2011, most were temporary in tenure. 

She said the government is also negotiating new bilateral agreements for job openings overseas.

Outgoing Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief Carlos Cao Jr. earlier said the agency is implementing this year a program that would provide an alternative destination for Filipino nurses. 

The POEA governing board is expected to pass a new resolution for the implementation of a deployment program for Filipino workers and other skilled workers to Australia. This program is similar to the program for the deployment of Filipino nurses to Japan.

Cao said unemployed Filipino nurses may undergo a three-month “bridging course” to qualify for job openings in Australia.