ROXAS LAMBASTS GMA JOBS PROGRAM
DISMAL NSO FIGURES BELIE CLAIM OF JOBS CREATION

Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas today lambasted President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's supposed economic reforms that have done nothing to improve employment among Filipinos as he warned that joblessness will worsen next year because the government is giving priority to extending her term instead of preparing a crisis program that would cushion the impact of the global financial meltdown.

The latest jobs figures from the National Statistics Office data, according to Roxas, belie Malacañang's oft-repeated claim that GMA's economic program has worked and protected Filipinos from the global financial crisis and the reduced economic activity in the country.

"Kitang-kita naman at 'business as usual' ang ugali ni GMA at mga economic managers niya. Pinaghandaan na raw ang financial crisis, habang nakaupo lang sila na walang ginagawa, o kaya naghahanda para sa Cha-Cha (It's obvious that the attitude of GMA and her economic managers is 'business as usual.' They say they're preparing for the financial crisis, while they just sit and do nothing, or maybe, prepare for Cha-Cha)," he said.

"Parami nang parami ang nawawalan ng trabaho sa ating bansa, at simula pa lang ng krisis dito. Kung pinaghanda lang ito ng gobyerno ay sana mas kaunti ang mga walang trabaho (More and more are losing jobs in our country, and the crisis is just starting. If only this was prepared by the government, there'd be less people without jobs)," he said.

The NSO released a report showing that the unemployment rate went up to 6.8% last October from 6.3% the same period last year. This means that there were 2.52 million unemployed Filipinos, as opposed to 2.34 million at the end of 2007.

"Pamumulitika din naman pala itong mga pangako na gagawa ng milyun-milyong trabaho. Kaya hindi na nakapagtatakang upos na ang pag-asa ng ating mga kababayan at nagkakandarapang maghanap ng trabaho sa ibang bansa (All these promises of millions of jobs is just politicking after all. No wonder our countrymen lose hope and look abroad for work)," he said.