Hope for the jobless

Pope Benedict XVI encouraged those threatened by unemployment and other economic woes to draw courage and strength from the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross.

That the Pope himself focused on unemployment underscores the problem of joblessness present in all countries including no. 1 economic power, the United States. Latest US figures released show that the creation of new jobs in the US has slowed down.

In the country, lack of jobs is also the no. 1 problem with estimated 20 percent of the population unemployed and underemployed as reported by the World Bank.

President Aquino in his inaugural message last 2010 put forward a target to create 10 million jobs during his term of office, but economists like Prof. Benjamin Diokno and Prof. Alex Magno do not expect that goal to be achieved as there has been no clear job creation strategy adopted by the administration. To the contrary, Government’s policy of underspending for the 1st 18 months has resulted in loss of jobs.

The flagship PPP program announced as the engine of growth and employment has not taken off with only one of 10 announced projects awarded so far.

The Administration took a different task by allotting P 21 billion in 2011 and P 39 billion in 2012 for the cash transfer subsidy which did not create any new jobs among the recipients.

What can be done to create jobs?

1. Increase the infrastructure building program from P190 billion to P500 billion.

2. Increase the DTI small business loans program to cover at least 1,000,000 beneficiaries, also increasing the loan amount from P5,000 to P25,000 per borrower.

3. Hire 44,000 nurses or one per barangay to push thru a more intensive public health education and nutrition programs.

4. Allocate more funds to the Department of Tourism for tourism promotion and advertising coupled with more incentives for new hotels and resorts to be built.

5. Expand the one-town one-project (OTOP) program by decentralizing it to the local governments starting with an allocation of P1 million for 5th and 6th class municipalities to jump start their OTOP projects.

6. Speed up tax exemption measures and improvement of air navigational facilities to encourage foreign airlines to resume flights from Europe and the Middle East. Also find ways and means to allow PAL, Cebu Pacific and other carriers to increase their flights to foreign destinations.

7. Institute a program of incentives for existing businesses to expand their operations and increase their hiring by giving them a tax credit for every 100 jobs created.

8. Expedite the resolution of pending mining issues to induce more foreign investors to put up new mining operations.

9. Review and rationalize the use of Road User’s tax funds, clean it up of corruption expenditures and therefore hire more laborers to do road cleaning and road maintenance work.

10. Clean up government payrolls of ghost employees and use the funds save to hire real workers.

11. Upon final decision by the Supreme Court, draw up a plan to use the P87 billion Coco levy fund to benefit 3.5 million coconut farmers.

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HOLY WEEK BREAK . . We spent the Holy Week, 7 days in Germany and 2 days in Singapore. Visiting Frankfurt and nearby Heidelberg, Edenkoben and St. Martin, we saw a vibrant German economy but with prices so high with gasoline at P87 a liter, an ordinary T-shirt at P1,000 and bus fare at P150. Taking Singapore Airlines, we experienced the no. 1 in service rating of the huge airline, riding the big Airbus 380 with bigger legroom and attentive cabin crew, It took 12 hours to fly on the Airbus 380 from Frankfurt to Singapore. The food with a Chinese flavor was excellent.

As in Germany, Singapore was clean and green with a super efficient modern airport with fast immigration clearance and no customs check.

Eating at a turo-turo where many Filipinos ate, the average price per dish was P400. One thing noticeable, taxis could be availed of only thru taxi stations. Taxis without passengers are not allowed to drive around. They have to wait at the taxi stations.

The Frankfurt Cathedral was half full on Palm Sunday, the Singapore Cathedral was overflowing during Good Friday services. Bus fare was P250. Definitely everything is cheaper in the Philippines.

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WATER PROJECTS . . DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson wrote us to say that DPWH has allocated P38.4 million in 2011 and P39.6 million in 2012 for the construction of 961 Rainwater Collection Systems (RWCS) with 136 units completed.

Singson also reported that he was responsible for the construction of the Fort Bonifacio Retarding Tank, a model urban rainwater catchment system at Global City.

To ensure further implementation of the RWCS program by local government units, DPWH entered into a memorandum of agreement and action plan with DILG.

Good start. Triple the funding next year. We need to conserve all the rainwater we can catch.

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TIDBITS . . . The National Statistics Office (NSO) has officially issued a count of 92.3 million population as of May 2010. It is estimated to reach 95 million by 2012.

Condolence to the family of broadcaster Angelo Castro Jr., who died from cancer last Thursday.

An estimated 300,000 children roam Philippine streets.

A security guard and 2 policemen were shot dead in the Parañaque house of Banco Filipino owner Bobby Aguirre.

Three gangland style murders were done in Malabon over 5 days of Holy Week.

Thank you to following who sent birthday greetings: Atty. J.V. Bautista, Cong. Rudy Fariñas, former Sec. Popoy Juico, Toto Ong, Cong. Ana York Bondoc, Rez Cortez, David Tan, Jaime Dichavez, Johnny Sy, Sebastian Chua, former Senator Vic and Mitos Ziga, Gov. Jojo Beltran, Maross Claudio, Grace Colmenares and German Moreno.