Aside from the contract tracers, the government will also be hiring data encoders, as the government eyes to expand its COVID-19 testing capacity, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) said on Wednesday, May 20.
NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon relayed to the House Committee on Sustainable Development Goals , during its virtual hearing on the impact of COVID-19 on the SDGs targets, that the government is committed to provide employment to workers in the informal sector who have lost their jobs during this time of national health emergency.
“In the very immediate term—and I am talking [about] the rest of the year—the plan of the economic team is to implement the ‘cash-for-work’ program. We need to employ a lot of contract tracers and data encoders. There will be simple training, any way it is not a complicated job,” she told the panel, chaired by ALONA party list Rep. Anna Marie Villaraza-Suarez, after Quezon Rep. David “Jay-Jay” Suarez asked if NEDA has readied livelihood opportunities for informal sector workers during this pandemic. “We also need those that will put in the bar codes for the test because, as you know, we plan to [do] 30,000 tests a day. So, hopefully, towards June we will be at that level. That means we need more workers for,” Edillon added. Rep. David Suarez expressed serious concerns that, with the current pandemic, more informal economy workers will be losing their jobs. “Because, back in my district, we noticed a lot of people will be losing their jobs, like specifically waiters, dahil ipapagbawal na social gatherings, so definitely mababawasan ang traffic sa restaurants, so definitely waiters unang maapektuhan ,” he said. Edillon agreed with Suarez’s observation, saying that “we will be probably losing a lot of jobs not just in the [food and beverage] sector, but also in the hotel and tourism sectors.” She said those in the restaurant business would have to think of more delivery options, paving way for more demand for delivery drivers. Suarez then asked the House panel to get in touch with the Technical Education Skills Development Authority to determine measures to ease unemployment during this crisis. “The Sustainable Development Goals panel should coordinate with TESDA so they can find out and map out a livelihood plan or retraining program for people who will be losing their jobs,” he said. During the virtual hearing, Edillon said the government has put in place measures to ensure the country will still be on track in achieving the SDGs by 2030. “It is still too premature to talk about revising the SDGs targets. The [United Nations] is proposing that this will be a call to action, actually a call for accelerating the action toward the attainment of the SDGs,” she said. “The SDG framework has given us what we need to do in order to fight the communicable disease,” the NEDA official said. The 17 SDGs included in the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” are as follows: eradicating poverty; eliminating hunger; promoting good health and well-being; providing access to quality education; promoting gender equalit; ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all; guaranteeing access to affordable and clean energy; promoting sustainable economic growth, productive employment, and decent work; building resilient infrastructure; promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation; reducing inequality; establishing sustainable cities and communities; promoting responsible consumption and production; taking urgent action to combat climate change; conserving life below water; conserving life on land; promoting peace and justice, and building strong institutions; and ensuring partnerships to achieve the goals.
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