Hontiveros to government: Hire Filipinos first for flagship projects
MANILA, Philippines — After Malacañang announced that it was looking into letting more foreign workers in for its flagship projects, Senator Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday urged the government to prioritize hiring Filipinos instead.
"Hire Filipinos first... millions of Filipinos lost their livelihoods and are hungry right now. Hundreds of thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are returning to the country with no jobs. Let's put them first," she said in a mix of Filipino and English.
Hontiveros in her statement called on the government to survey the population for its skills and to match them with its projects.
"We need to match skills to available and future jobs. The government has to step in as one of our major employers through its flagship projects while we are in crisis," she said.
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that an additional five million Filipinos were left jobless by the COVID-19 pandemic and government-initiated lockdowns in April.
In absolute terms, movement restrictions threw 7.3 million Filipinos out of their workplace during the survey period, up from 2.3 million a year ago, PSA data showed.
Hontiveros advocated for the skills of a great number of these unemployed workers. She emphasized in Filipino that "among the returning OFWs alone, many are health workers, engineers, architects and more."
The senator added that the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the economic cluster of the Cabinet should "quickly put together a masterplan that will generate new sources of employment and new investments that will be ready to replace those that have been lost."
She particularly highlighted investments in industries such as information and communication technology, agriculture, food manufacturing, the health sector, and urban-rural transport networks.
The government in March suspended the visa-free privileges of foreigners in an effort to contain the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected over 30,000 people in the Philippines.
Currently, only accredited foreign government and international organization officials and their dependents; and foreign spouses and children of Filipino nationals are exempted from the restriction.
However, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Monday said the government will look into proposals to allow foreigners working on state flagship projects to come to the country.
He said an embassy requested for a report on visa holders performing work for flagship projects, permanent residents, retirees and special investors. Roque declined to identify which foreign government made the request.
"It is now being discussed. This was brought up by Secretary Meynard (Guevarra) of DOJ (Department of Justice) last Friday," he said said at a press briefing. — with reports from Prinz Magtulis
A thread of major news, developments and government pronouncements related the extended community quarantine across the country. Real-time updates about the coronavirus outbreak in the Philippines are available in this live blog. (Main image by AFP/Ted Aljibe)
The province of Laguna and the cities of Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro will be placed on lockdown until the middle of August, Malacañang announces.
"President Rodrigo Roa Duterte approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to place Laguna, Iloilo City and Cagayan de Oro under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) beginning Aug. 6 until Aug. 15, 2021," presidential spokesman Harry Roque says in a statement.
Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro have been under the strictest quarantine classification since July 16. — The STAR/Alexis Romero
The Department of Health reports an additional 6,686 COVID-19 infections, bringing the national tally to 1,300,349.
- Active cases: 61,345 or 4.7%% of the total
- Recoveries: 3,190, pushing total to 1,216,497
- Deaths: 196, bringing total to 22,507
President Rodrigo Duterte approves the recommendation of Cabinet members to place Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal under modified enhanced community quarantine.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque says the new quarantine measures will be imposed starting midnight of August 4 and will stay in place until August 18.
The inter-agency task force on COVID-19 imposes a moratorium on the transit of locally stranded persons in Western Visayas, Cebu island, Mactan, Eastern Visayas and Caraga.
"Wala na po silang lugar para mag-quarantine," IATF spokesperson Harry Roque says in a virtual briefing.
(They have no place to undergo quarantine anymore.)
The Department of Health announces 485 "fresh" COVID-19 cases on Sunday, June 28.
Another 168 are "late" cases, or "released to patients four days ago or more."
Most of the cases are still from the National Capital Region, with 245 "fresh" and 111 "late."
Central Visayas accounts for 120 "fresh" cases and 11 "late" ones.
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