Duterte to lead Labor Day celebration in Pampanga

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte is expected to lead tomorrow’s 120th Labor Day celebration in Pampanga, highlighted by the opening of the country’s first Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Hospital in the City of San Fernando.The Department of Labor (DOLE) said it would be the last time for Duterte to lead the May 1 event, since his term ends on June 30.Labor Undersecretary Benjo Santos Benavidez had announced that the government will hold job and business fairs in 26 sites nationwide, but the main event is the OFW Hospital’s inauguration.

“In the afternoon, to cap the celebration, we will have an inspection of the OFW Hospital that will be done in San Fernando, Pampanga, where our main guest is our President,” Benavidez said at the Laging Handa public briefing on Thursday.

He also mentioned the Job Summit of the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) task force as one of the highlights of this year’s celebration.

Malacañang welcomed the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey which showed a decline in adult joblessness.

Based on the nationwide poll, conducted on Dec. 12-16 and released last Thursday, the average joblessness went from a record-high of 37.4 percent in 2020 to 25.7 in 2021 for an 11.7 percent drop.

“This is a clear indication of how effective our calibrated strategy of shifting to alert level system to further reopen the economy (is),” said Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar.?“More businesses are operating and more Filipinos are able to go to work, while ramping (up) our COVID-19 vaccination drive,” he added.

Andanar, also acting presidential spokesman, expressed confidence in seeing “further improvement” in employment as “concrete plans to sustain our economic rebound” have been put in place by the Duterte administration.

Labor Day fairs

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said 102,426 job opportunities will be available in the face-to-face Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan Job and Business Fairs at 26 sites nationwide.

Bello said the participation of 900 employers nationwide in this endeavor “is a testament to the fruition of the government’s efforts at employment recovery that was heavily impacted by the pandemic.”

“This job fair is one of the employment recovery strategies to restart economic activities, restore consumer and business confidence, upgrade and retool the workforce and facilitate labor market access,” he said in a statement.

The DOLE said most of the vacancies are in the manufacturing, business process outsourcing and retail/sales industries.

Bello added that those looking for local employment may take advantage of the 73,671 jobs for production operators/machine operators, customer service representatives, collection specialists, retail/sales agents/promodisers and sewers to be offered by 817 employers.

On the other hand, 28,755 overseas jobs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore will be offered by 73 recruitment agencies.

The top overseas vacancies are for nurse/nurse aide; carpenter, foreman and welder; food server; household service worker and auditor.

The main job fair site on May 1 is at the Kingsborough International Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga, where over 10,000 jobs will be offered by 90 employers.

Most of the vacancies are for production operators, skilled sewers, customer service representatives, production helpers, call center agents, helpers, staff nurse and collection specialists.

Listed by region, here are the other job fair sites: National Capital Region – Arroceros Forest Park, Manila; Cordillera Administrative Region – Baguio Convention Center; Ilocos region – 3F MMX Center, Magic Mall, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan; Tagudin Farmers Center, Tagudin, Ilocos Sur; Robinsons Place Ilocos, San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte;

Cagayan Valley Region – Robinsons Place Santiago City, Isabela; Calabarzon – St. Thomas Academy Gymnasium, Poblacion 3, Sto. Tomas, Batangas; Vista Mall, San Agustin, Dasmariñas, Cavite; Camp Vicente Lim, Barangay Canlubang, Calamba, Laguna; Pacific Mall, ML Tagarao St., Brgy 3, Lucena City, Quezon; and Ynares Event Center Capitol Grounds, Antipolo City, Rizal; and

Mimaropa – Robinsons Place, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan; and Bicol region – Robinsons Place, Naga City, Albay.

Jobseekers may also visit SM City Iloilo in Western Visayas; Trade Hall, SM City Cebu, Juan Luna Ave. Extension, Cebu City and Lamberto Macias Sports Complex, Capitol Area, Dumaguete City in Central Visayas and Robinsons North Tacloban City in Eastern Visayas.

In Mindanao, the job fair sites by region are: Zamboanga peninsula – East Wing, Ground Floor, KCC Mall de Zamboanga, Zamboanga City; Davao Region – 3F Activity Area NCCC Mall Buhangin, Davao City and 4F Activity Area, NCCC Mall, Tagum City; Soccsksargen – KCC Events Center, KCC Mall of Marbel, Koronadal City; and Caraga – Robinsons Place Butuan. – Sheila Crisostomo