Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 9) — The provision of financial assistance to address the recent higher unemployment figures is off the table for now, Malacañang said on Tuesday.
“Hindi pa po kasama sa mga opsyon ang pamimigay ng ayuda,” said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque during a briefing on the government’s response to the latest increase in the number of jobless Filipinos.
[Translation: The distribution of cash aid is not yet included in [the government’s] options.]
This morning, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported 4 million Filipinos were unable to find work this January, slightly up from the 3.8 million recorded three months prior. However, the unemployment rate still stands at 8.7%.
What the government shall be doing is further reopening the economy gradually and safely, along with easing restrictions on ages allowed to go out in public and increasing public transport, said the spokesman.
Roque likewise cited the economic team’s ‘three-pronged’ strategy in ushering economic growth and creating jobs. This involves opening the economy once more without sacrificing public health and safety; implementation of the government’s recovery package, which includes measures like Bayanihan 1 and 2 along with the 2020 and 2021 national budgets; and rollout of vaccines nationwide.
“Sabi naman po ng Pangulo, magsimula lang ang pagbabakuna at ma-convince lang siyang marami-rami nang nababakunahan, talagang tuluyan na niyang bubuksan ang ekonomiya,” said the official. “Pagbubukas po talaga ng ekonomiya ang solusyon para magkaroon po ng mas maraming trabaho sa ating lipunan.”
[Translation: The President did say he will push through with reopening the economy once vaccination begins and he’s convinced a considerable amount of people already got inoculated. Reopening the economy is really the solution to make jobs more available in our society.]
The Philippine economy remains in recession as it contracted by another 8.3% in the last quarter of 2020, bringing full-year growth to -9.5%. This is the worst recorded plunge since the PSA began collecting data on annual growth rates in 1946.
Meanwhile, labor group Defend Jobs Philippines slammed the national government for not prioritizing the distribution of aid to workers and those seeking jobs during the pandemic.
The group’s spokesperson Christian Lloyd Magsoy questioned what happened to the trillions worth of money the government borrowed for the country’s economic stimulus, vaccine procurement, and aid to displaced workers and informal sector members.
“As of December 2020, the country’s national debt reached around ₱10-trillion for the economic stimulus and buying vaccines. That’s equivalent to ₱90,000 debt for each Filipino. The government should explain this,” Magsoy told CNN Philippines’ The Final Word.
