Palace creates employment task force

BY Angelo S. Samonte, Manila Times Reporter

President Gloria Arroyo created the Presidential Task Force on Emergency Employment to thwart the effects of the global economic crisis in the country’s economy.

The task force would be created through the Executive Order No. 794 signed by the President recently.

The seven-member task force is chaired by the President herself with the following members: Labor Secretary Marianito Roque; Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA); Administrator Carmelita Dimzon of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA); and the presidents of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, one organization of recruitment agencies, and a representative of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).

The President said the generation of employment and livelihood opportunities for targeted income groups is part of the country’s best preparation in thwarting the problems brought about by the global economic crisis.

The government held a job fair during the Labor Day celebrations instead of holding usual activities for the event saying 80,000 local and overseas jobs were up for grabs to Filipinos workers.

2000 workers Guam

Another visitor in the country, Lieutenant Governor Michael Cruz of the United States Territory of Guam, has announced their requirement for 20,000 to 30,000 skilled construction workers.

He said that 8,000 American expeditionary forces stationed in Okinawa, Japan, are moving to Guam, which translates to a 25-percent increase in the population of the Island Territory to 170,000, about 25 percent of whom are of Filipino ancestry.

Cruz said the U.S. region can only provide about 1,000 skilled workers and, therefore, has to hire masons, electricians, plumbers and other workers adept in construction works from other areas like the Philippines. He said that hiring is ongoing.

$15-billion infra budget

A budget of $15 billion was readied for various infrastructure projects to be built in Guam to cater to the needs of U.S. servicemen and families whose pullout from the Japanese city will be completed by year 2014.

He described the magnitude of growth and the construction boom that will happen in Guam within a decade as huge. “It is the largest build-up of millions and millions of dollars since World War II,” the lieutenant governor said.

Guam’s vice governor said that their economy is tourism-based with the bulk of tourists coming from Asia, especially from Japan. He chided that Filipino Lapu-Lapu killed their first tourist Ferdinand Magellan in 1521.

Cruz was in Bataan Wednesday to discuss with Gov. Enrique Garcia and son Balanga City Mayor Jose Enrique Garcia III the final plans for the establishment of twin-city relations between Guam’s capital of Agana and the City of Balanga.

“We have to do our homework and be ready to be able to supply a sizable number of skilled construction workers for Guam,” the Bataan governor said. 

--With Llanesca T. Panti and Ernie B. Esconde