Nearly a quarter of a million previously unemployed or underemployed Filipinos found jobs through the Arroyo administration’s Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP) during the period covering the second week of January to the first week of July this year, the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) announced recently.

NAPC Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban said the government has afforded new jobs for some 237,611 Filipinos over the past six months alone following a directive issued by President Arroyo for government to increase the pace and efficiency of employment generation in public works and services under her nationwide emergency jobs program.

“We have already committed more than P7 billion of the P13.58 billion pledged by various agencies to the CLEEP thus far. That makes for a 52% utilization rate of public funds,” Panganiban said.

He said that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had hired some 46,604 workers during the timeframe while the Department of Agriculture (DA) allowed jobs for 37,524 more workers through its food security programs.

“The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) helped some 29,545 Filipinos find jobs. The Department of Social Welfare and Development created jobs for 27,127 workers, and the Department of Education (DepEd) hired 19,356 workers for its herbal soapmaking project and as utility workers for the repair and maintenance of public school building projects during the period covered,” Panganiban said.

The NAPC chief said preliminary reports from the field indicate that some 13 other government agencies combined to create jobs for another 77,445 workers nationwide.

These agencies include the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Department of National Defense (DND), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Finance (DOF), the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

“The President is keeping a close watch on this program. We expect to announce even bigger employment figures in the weeks ahead as a number of agencies are still in the process of tallying their field reports,” Panganiban said.