RP prepares to absorb up to 50,000 OFWs …’if they lose their jobs in global crisis’
TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—The government has been preparing a contingency plan for some 50,000 Filipinos who could be affected by a possible US recession, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Wednesday night.
“The worst-case scenario, if there is a recession, is that 50,000 will have to come back. But that’s the worst-case scenario,” the President said at the opening dinner for the Asean 100 Leadership Forum participants in Malacañang.
In the open forum, the President clarified that the government was not predicting that 50,000 Filipinos could lose their jobs in case of a US recession, but was preparing a contingency plan based on this figure.
“That 50,000 number is not an estimate of people coming home. That’s a result of what I said is a contingency plan we must make in case there is a recession in the US,” she said.
The Department of Labor and Employment was misquoted as saying that 50,000 could lose their jobs in case of a US recession, she said.
The President, however, said that the US posted a higher growth in the second quarter than the first quarter, and that it was too premature to say it would slide into recession.
“It takes two quarters of negative growth to make a recession and that has not happened at all in the US,” she said. “As it is now, they (overseas workers) are not coming back.”
Arroyo announced Wednesday that part of the contingency plan would be the setting up of a livelihood fund that could be accessed by overseas workers displaced by the global financial turmoil.
She did not mention a specific figure, saying the details would be fleshed out by labor officials.
Labor groups earlier warned that a global economic slowdown would take a heavy toll on Filipinos working overseas, and slow down remittances that has been keeping the economy afloat for several years.
Overseas workers sent some $14.4 billion in 2007, which accounted for nearly a tenth of the country’s gross domestic product.
Trade Secretary Peter Favila on Thursday confirmed that the government’s contingency plan has been pegged on the figure of 50,000.
“Given that there are 3.5 million overseas workers, if 50,000 come home, can we absorb them? That’s the context of the statement. It’s not saying the 50,000 will lose their jobs,” he said.
Favila said that the government could handle a scenario where 50,000 Filipinos would lose their jobs.
“According to Labor Secretary Marianito Roque, it’s manageable. We’re not saying that’s what’s going to happen. We’re doing impact assessment almost on a daily basis,” he told reporters.
In her speech, the President said that the country remained in “relatively good shape” and credited this to the government’s sound fiscal reforms.
Even so, Arroyo said she earlier directed her economic managers to draw up contingency plans to cushion the impact of a possible US recession on ordinary Filipinos.
“The plan includes strategies to pump-prime growth, upgrade the country’s infrastructure and social services, and protect labor,” she said.
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