Honasan bats for more funds in rural development

Reelectionist independent Senator Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan today urged the Arroyo administration to infuse more funds for rural development aimed at raising the level of productivity in the agriculture sector where job opportunities abound.

Honasan, who chairs the labor and employment committee in the Senate, issued the challenge as he noted that the government at last week’s Employment Summit showed significant biases in favor of the industry and services sectors.

"If we want to see significant changes in the living conditions of our people, the government should strip itself of its biases against agriculture and take a paradigm shift that would promote agricultural productivity," he said.

Honasan explained that the government could not possibly provide more and better job opportunities if it will just facilitate the hiring of job applicants to industry and services sectors, most of which are from foreign private firms.

Government statistics indicate that the country’s employment in the industrial sector and in services sector rose by 6.3 and 3.5 percent, respectively. The services sector’s share of total employment was at 4 6.8 percent.

"What is needed is to infuse more funds for infrastructure development programs and research and technology training programs so that our farmers would become self-reliant and as a result, lure more investments in the countryside," Honasan explained.

Records show that the number of jobless Filipinos has already reached from 3.5 last year to 3.6 million this year, representing a record high of 11.4 percent unemployment rate, the highest in a decade.

Of the country’s total labor force of 31.68 million recorded as of last January, 36.5 percent comprises the agriculture sector which has been seen to be substantially falling down by at least 3.5 percent year on year.