MANILA — Amid more news of lay-offs by several companies in the Philippines in January 2018, Budget and Management Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the Duterte administration’s massive “Build, Build, Build” program is seen as a solution that would address job losses.
The current administration plans to spend at least PHP8 trillion until the end of its term in mid-2022 to build infrastructure nationwide.
Under the 2017-2022 Public Investment Program (PIP), an estimated PHP7.7 trillion, or about 72.71 percent of the total requirement, is needed to accelerate infrastructure development alone. The amount covers some 4,490 projects.
Aside from the projects under the infrastructure development program, about 495 additional projects amounting to around PHP1.31 trillion are included in the other chapters of the PIP, data from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) showed.
Some of these projects are scheduled for implementation this year and these will need workers, thus, a plus to the government’s program to provide jobs to the citizens.
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data show that unemployment rate in the country stood at 5.6 percent of the labor force as of July 2017, up from the 5.4 percent same period a year ago.
The current administration, under the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-22, targets to reduce unemployment rate to around 3 to 5 percent by 2022.
Diokno said infrastructure programs are sustainable source of jobs, citing that some of the projects identified by the current government would be implemented beyond its term.
“We can build forever. Look at Singapore, BBB,” he said.
Aside from the employment to be provided by the infrastructure program, people would continue to have something on their table as the government has started to implement the first package of tax reform program, he said.
The first package of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) took effect on Jan. 1 this year.
It cut workers’ income tax and gave their first PHP250,000 annual income a tax-free rate, thus, giving them additional funds to provide for their families.
Although the cut in workers’ tax will reduce government revenues, this will be countered by the hike of excise taxes of some products like fuel and sugar-sweetened beverages.
The additional excise taxes will then be used to provide subsidies to the lower 50 percent of the society as non-conditional cash transfer on top of the existing conditional cash transfer program like the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
Diokno said the jeepney modernization program is also seen to contribute to higher employment in the country.
“You’ll have more money in your pocket so that will create multiplier effect,” he added. (Joann Villanueva/PNA)
