T hePhilippine government is set to prime the economy with some 93,000 jobs for Filipinos in its over $35 million roadside maintenance program, as part of the emergency job plan under its Economic Resiliency Program. The National Anti Poverty Commission, an agency under the Office of the President which oversees the Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program launched in October, 2008, to address the need for new jobs as a result of the global economic meltdown, said the new job opportunities for the country’s unemployed or under-employed are in line with the development plans of the President and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), to ensure the availability of jobs and employment opportunities for poor Filipinos suffering from the effects of the global recession.

The new jobs involve maintenance work on some 30,000 kilometers of national roads under the Out of School Youth Towards Economic Recovery (OYSTER) program of the DPWH, which has already hired 42,930 workers for various roadside maintenance projects nationwide as of the end of September. There will be new employment opportunities for 59,968 roadside maintenance workers in Luzon, 14,120 more laborers in the Visayas, and another 19,120 workers across the island region of Mindanao. The national government has said local government units and private businesses have been working doubly hard in creating and maintaining jobs and investing in vital infrastructures, livelihood programs and other economic activities that will help generate more employment.