Government should start rolling out acash-for-work program in Yolanda-devastated areas in order to “clear and clean”communities of debris and employ those whose jobs or livelihood werealso destroyed by the typhoon.

“Disaster areas need a differentkind of emergency – emergency employment,” said Senate President ProTempore Ralph G. Recto in proposing that typhoon victims betemporarily employed so they can rebuild their own communities themselves.

“Relief shouldn’t only come in grocerybags,” Recto said, “but must also be in the opportunity to be employed. Ifyou want victims to stop displaying ‘We need food’ placards,then hang ‘Help wanted’ signs.”

He said Yolanda merely aggravated ableak unemployment picture in the areas it devastated. “Before Yolandastruck, the three regions of Visayas were home to 2.1 millionunemployed and underemployed. One in three in the labor force was without a jobor underemployed.”

In batting for cash-for-work, Rectosaid government will not find a more determined volunteer force to dopost-typhoon clean-up than in the victims themselves. “The victims’sweat equity matched with government pay, that’s the bestreconstruction material.”

Recto said “mass employment” canbe found in next year’s national budget. “With its huge P2.4 trillionfootprint, it is a big job order document.”

In infrastructure alone, close toP400 billion has been earmarked, Recto said. This would finance theconstruction of P137.7 billion worth of roads, not including the P12 billionworth of farm-to-market roads that the Department of Agriculture will build.

For schools, 43,183 classrooms will bebuilt while 9,502 will be repaired.

In agriculture, some P53billion will be allocated, the senatorsaid. On irrigation alone, construction will cover 86,019hectares of farmland.

He said the DA will be holding “ayear-round job fair” because it will be given money, not only forfarm infrastructure, but for “labor intensive activities like rice and cornplanting, and coconut production for which it will be given P2billion.”

Because ‘Yolanda’ barreled throughagriculture areas, DA will have to assume the role of a job provider, Rectosaid. “In the case of fishermen, relief is about giving them cans of sardines.Rehabilitation is empowering them to fish again.“

But for the above capital expendituresto generate local jobs, Recto said Congress can insert provisions inthe national budget that will require the recruitment of local labor.

“For example, there’s actually a law,Republic Act 6685, which requires the contractor of a government public worksproject to hire one-half of the unskilled labor and one-third of theskilled labor requirements from among the residents
where it will be implemented,” hesaid.

Another option is for Congress toappropriate specific cash-for-work initiatives, Recto said.

He said the funding for cash-for-work for December will have to come fromsavings from the 2013 national budget.

“For next year, it will be acombination of specific cash-for-work programs on top of job-generating infraprojects,” he said.