The government has already allocated P18 billion for the first phase of a massive livelihood and emergency employment program to generate jobs for Filipino workers who are expected to bear the brunt of the effects of the global economic crisis on the local economy, the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) announced recently.

Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban said the Arroyo administration invested at least P18.1 billion in projects to create new employment opportunities for some 63,672 poor and low income workers even as the government prepares to cope with the effects of the global economic crunch on the country’s labor force.

Panganiban made the announcement even as government reported a 4.5% growth in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2008.

“The country’s economy is in relatively good shape as of yet but President Arroyo is determined to firmly establish the Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP) at the local level at the soonest possible time in anticipation of the effects of the global economic crunch on Filipino workers,” he said.

The NAPC chief said the government expects the massive investment to create new jobs for poor and underprivileged folk even as it finances projects to improve the country’s infrastructure systems, healthcare services, and enterprise development services.

“The beneficiary workers of the CLEEP program will be hired in projects that will serve to improve and preserve the fruits of our recent economic gains,” Panganiban said.

He said the CLEEP program is expanding at a rapid pace."We expect to announce the creation of even more new employment opportunities in the following weeks," he added.

A report issued by the NAPC macro-policy unit indicates that the majority of the new jobs planned in the initial stages of the government’s emergency employment program will be created through the rehabilitation of irrigation systems under the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), the construction of farm-to-market roads, a nationwide goat dispersal program, and the production of organic fertilizers.