Seeking to send a strong signal that President Arroyo is committed to stem the rising tide of unemployment in the country, the government has announced that some 6,000 more Filipinos have found new jobs under the government’s Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP) from March to the middle of April this year alone.

“The latest reports from the field indicate that around 6,673 more Filipinos were hired to work on CLEEP projects from March 23 to April 13 this year. That is an average of more than 300 jobs a day for 21 consecutive days,” Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) said recently.

Panganiban said the latest batch of workers brings the total number of Filipinos hired under the President’s emergency employment program to 81,689.

He said the government has put the newly hired laborers to work on port projects, the construction of farm-to-market roads, the construction and maintenance of Tindahan Natin outlets, the rehabilitation of irrigation systems and hospital facilities, and the establishment of micro-enterprises, among others.

“As of the end of the first quarter this year, our plans call for initial public investments amounting to over P10 billion. These investments will finance projects that will in turn create jobs for an estimated 280,686 unemployed or underemployed Filipinos nationwide,” the NAPC chief said.

He said a vast number of Filipino families have already benefited from the various public works and services generated under President Arroyo’s CLEEP effort.

“CLEEP projects are not only designed to create jobs for poor and underprivileged Filipinos, they are also meant to improve basic services and encourage private investments, which we need to keep our economy strong and forward moving,” he added.

He said the President had anticipated the effects of the global crisis on the country’s labor force early on.