The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Wednesday said there would be no Filipinos who will look for jobs abroad after the end of the term of President Duterte, as 10 million jobs will be available in the next five years due to the “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program of the government.
During the budget deliberation of the DOLE, Secretary H. Silvestre Bello III told lawmakers that domestic employment is seen to generate 2 million jobs annually, with infrastructure projects already in the pipeline to boost economic activity.
“This BBB program will generate almost 2 million jobs every year by end of this term. We’re talking of 10 million jobs [in the next five years] that’s why our workers will no longer go abroad to look for jobs because jobs are available here,” Bello said.
Earlier, the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), in its report titled, “Safeguarding the Rights of Asian Migrant Workers from Home to the Workplace”, said the number of Filipinos going abroad is expected to continue falling until 2025.
It said the net migration rate of the country will continue to decline to -0.7 per 1,000 population in the 2020-to-2025 period.
As much as P1.097 trillion have been allocated for government infrastructure projects next year under the 2018 proposed P3.- trillion national budget. It is 29.5 percent, or P249.8 billion, higher than the 2017 national budget’s allocation for public infrastructure.
In his budget message, the President said the 2018 budget will focus on public infrastructure listed under the government’s Build, Build, Build campaign.
He added among the objectives of the 2018 budget proposal is to accelerate strategic infrastructure under the government’s bid to sustain development.
The 2018 budget is currently under the House’s Committee on Appropriations.
“In all, we plan to spend a total of P8.1 trillion for infrastructure development from 2017 to 2022,” Duterte added.
Under the accelerated infrastructure spending, the government aims to improve road transport to spur trade movement, air transport to impel air mobility, sea transport to boost port activity and rail transport to ease urban congestion.
To reduce logistics costs in Mindanao, Duterte said the Mindanao Logistics Infrastructure Network will receive a 10.3-percent increase in funding, from P21.4 billion in 2017 to P23.6 billion in 2018.
Also, Duterte said the Aviation Infrastructure Program of the Department of Transportation will obtain a 48.5-percent budget increase, from P6.8 billion in 2017 to P10.1 billion in 2018, “to maximize and expand existing airports and build new ones”.
Duterte added the government provided some P2.7 billion for night-landing capabilities of the Clark International Airport to help decongest the Ninoy Aquino
International Airport.
Some P1.7 billion is also allocated for the modernization of ports and harbors nationwide, including the Al-Barka Ports Cluster in Al-Barka, Basilan; Volcano Island Port in Talisay, Batangas; and Agkawayan in Looc, Occidental Mindoro. Duterte said the government will also shell out P5.3 billion for maritime infrastructure program “to boost maritime-patrol capabilities”.
On top of this, the rail-transport program will receive P26 billion under the 2018 budget proposal, of which P6.6 billion is allocated for the Mindanao Railway Project Phase 1.
‘Endo’
Bello admitted that there are still contractual employees in the private and government sectors despite the implementation of Department Order 174, which prohibits labor-only contracting.
In the same budget hearing, Bello said it is impossible to completely eradicate contractualization in the services sector, which include security guards, janitors and construction workers, whose jobs are outsourced usually.
“This may not be a perfect department order, but it is an order that prohibits illegal or illegitimate contractual relations,” Bello said.
“Logic will dictate that you have to outsource it if you can’t have regular employees. It would be difficult to make it absolute,” Bello said.
The secretary also said of the DOLE’s 6,300 employees nationwide, 686 are contractual workers.
The labor department is seeking P10.816 billion in the 2018 proposed national budget. It is lower than this year’s P11.439 billion.
Image credits: Roy Domingo