Celso: City shared over P500M for job employment in 2 years
Mayor Celso Lobregat and Alfonso Ibarra are assisted by officials from the Department of Labor and Employment, TESDA and RTESDC and members of the City Council in the ceremonial ribbon-cutting during the opening of the two-day Jobs Bridging event at the Summit Center in Tetuan Thursday morning. (JOEY BAUTISTA)
The city government of Zamboanga is one of the biggest pump primers of the economy in the region based on the number of projects implemented since the start of the Lobregat administration in 2007.
In a message during the opening program for “Jobs Bridging,” a two-day jobs fair covering Zamboanga Peninsula held at the Summit Center in Tetuan Thursday, Mayor Celso Lobregat said the city government from 207-2009 has undertaken, including those on going and submitted to the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), a total of 2,022 projects costing some P2.107 billion.
Every time the city government implements a project, the mayor said, 20-30 percent of the project cost is intended for labor. “With the over P2 billion worth of projects, the city government has created over P500 million worth of employment”.
“The city government is one of the biggest pump primers of the economy,” the mayor stressed. “The city creates employment every time a project is implemented.”
This support to job employment, according to Mayor Lobregat, is aside from the employment opportunities being generated out of the programs implemented by the city through the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) under the City Social Welfare and Development Office.
The city also provides an increasing allocation for the Summer Program for the Employment of Students, which is intended to help indigent students complete their high school and college education. For 2009, the city allocated P7.7 million as its counterpart for the SPES program with the Department of Labor and Employment contributing some P4 million for the same.
“Aside from this, because of the global recession, the city also decided to come up with an emergency employment program called Community Emergency Livelihood Support Outreach (CELSO) project employing some 500 indigent individuals for a period of 3-5 months.
For 2009, the appropriation for the emergency program reached P15 million while next year, the allocation is expected to increase to P20 million.
The city also operates two vocational technical schools—one located in Ayala and the other one in Vitali.
Jobs Bridging is an employment facilitation activity organized by the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA)-9 in partnership with DOLE-9, the city government of Zamboanga and the ZC Association of Private Technical Vocational Institutions and sponsored by the ABS-CBN Regional Network Group.
Also present during the opening program were District Cong. Beng Climaco, Presidential Assistant for Western Mindanao Crisanto de la Cruz, TESDA-9 OIC director Nilda Espiritusanto, Regional Technical Education Skills Development Committee Chair Atty. Marycel Engracia, DOLE-9 Assistant Director Yahya Centi and DOLE officials from other parts of Western Mindanao.
Over 50 local companies and recruitment agencies are participating in the jobs fair which will culminate today, Dec. 3.
Also present during the opening program were Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Adelante Zamboanga (LDP-AZaP) party members—vice mayoralty aspirant Cesar Iturralde, District 1 re-electionist councilors Rudy Lim, Jaime Cabat, Luis Biel III, Gerky Valesco and aspirants Josephine Pareja, Kaiser Olaso, Myra Abubakar and Elbert Atilano and District 2 re-electionist councilors Lilia Nuño, Nonong Guingona, Rey Candido and Eddie Saavedra and new aspirants Ller Natividad, Percival Ramos and VP Elago. (Sheila Covarrubias)