Fayette C.
Riñen
CEBU, May 1 (PIA)
--Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Sonny Coloma
Jr. in a press briefing to Cebu media early this afternoon said that an average
of one million jobs annually have been generated under the Aquino
administration improving the lives of workers.
Coloma made the
announcement as the country marks Labor Day placing emphasis that employment
generation is a priority thrust under this administration.
The PCOO chief said
agencies like the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) are doubling their efforts
in crafting programs that could open more job opportunities for the Filipinos.
“There are 300,000 job
openings countrywide facilitated through the DOLE,” said Coloma who flew in to
Cebu yesterday together with President Aquino and nine other cabinet members
including Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and TESDA Secretary Joel Villanueva.
“Through TESDA,
government is providing various technical skills trainings to make people more
employable,” by matching the skills to the needs of the labor market, said
Coloma.
Coloma also said that
nearly five years into the Aquino presidency, much has been done to improve the
plight of workers such as the higher ceiling for the tax exemption of the 13th
month pay of ordinary workers in both public and private sectors and the
improvement of labor standards focusing on occupational health and safety by
hiring more workers in DOLE to monitor and check on the conditions of workers
in hazardous sectors as well as assistance to vulnerable sectors including the
plight of overseas Filipino workers.
As some labor groups
demand for salary increase and raise minimum wage to P16,000, Coloma said this
is unrealistic. “Although we recognize their right to hold protests, this
however is not justified,” said Coloma adding that raising the minimum wage to
P16,000 makes the Philippines the country with the highest minimum wage.
Coloma urged labor
groups to reconsider their demand as this will be a total turn-off to
investors. “What we want is for more investors to come in and create more job
opportunities,” said Coloma.
Coloma further said
the minimum wage is just a benchmark or a reference point where workers can
complain if their salary is lesser than what is required under the law. There
are other jobs that offer higher salary depending on one’s qualifications, he
said.
Meanwhile, the
country’s annual percentage growth rate of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
from 2010 to 2014 stands at an average of 6.3 percent, according to Coloma
which he said is the highest the country has attained in the last 40 years.
“If we achieve our
target of seven to eight percent growth rate of GDP in 2015, this will be the
highest our country will attain since 1955 or in the last 60 years,” said
Coloma.
Coloma said the Aquino
administration just doesn’t want to achieve economic growth but inclusive
growth to benefit everyone especially those e in the lower strata of society.
(mbcn/fcr/PIA7)