Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva lauded the efforts of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in finding employment opportunities for Filipinos in his trips abroad.
Villanueva issued the remark as the government announced during Marcos’ US trip that several American firms are set to hire at least 75,000 Filipino seafarers in the next three to four years.
“Good news po ito sa ating mga kababayang mandaragat. Nagagalak tayo na may maganda silang patutunguhan sa kanilang paglalayag,” the former TESDA chief said.
“The President is indeed the best salesman of the country and we thank him for reaping investments and jobs for our people from his foreign trips,” he added.
President Marcos was also able to yield US$ 1.5 billion investment pledges and 6,700 jobs in the Philippines in his latest trip to the United States of America.
“This is a welcome development, especially in addressing the unemployment in the country, which is at 4.8% equivalent to 2.47 million, as of February 2023,” the Majority Leader said.
Villanueva also said that Marcos’ attendance in the coronation of King Charles III continues to put the Philippines in the conversation for investments and trade partnerships with other nations.
“The government will continue to strengthen the economy and provide employment to the Filipinos. At the same time, it would still embark on missions to look out into the world for opportunities that could bring stability and prosperity into the people’s lives,” he said.
Pushing for his Senate Bill No. 2035 that will establish the Trabaho Para sa Bayan (TPB) plan, the Majority Leader said the country needs to institutionalize more targeted policies to address the employment struggles of the people.
The measure aims to serve as the country’s long-term employment generation and recovery roadmap.
“Habang naghahanap po tayo ng mga trabaho para sa bawat Pilipino dito at sa abroad, mas lalong kailangan ng isang employment strategy para maihanda ang ating labor force sa mga pangangailangan ng industriya,” Villanueva said.
The bill targets to provide the employment policy that is comprehensive, coherent, and future oriented, to be able to address the dynamic changes in the labor market.
It will address challenges such as job-skills mismatch and potential skills gap in emerging industries; access to active labor market policies; handling specific needs of sectors, and the like.
“As creating sustainable jobs for all Filipinos is our mission, we are more than ready to defend this bill on the Senate floor this week,” Villanueva said.
