TO boost aggregate demand as the economy reopens, the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means has called on the national government to spend P90 billion for wage-subsidies and temporary-employment programs.
Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda said in a statement over the weekend these programs will assist sectors undergoing seasonal surges in demand.
According to Salceda, there is not more strategic time than at present to launch big stimulus and employment programs to boost aggregate demand.
“Momentum is on our side; a boost will go a much longer way now than it would have done during the restrictions. Recovery is no time for ‘incrementalism,’” he said. “You want a big boost.”
Likewise, Salceda said the government has fiscal space for the implementation of these programs he sees this year’s deficit smaller than expected by the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC).
“The deficit is likely to be P200-billion less than programmed so there will be fiscal space [for wage subsidies and a temporary-employment program],” he added.
Salceda earlier said that the government is very likely to see deficit hit P1.7 trillion at year’s end.
The lawmaker is proposing a 3-pronged approach: P90-billion employment program composed of P30 billion for reemploying furloughed workers; P30 billion for a micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) worker-retention subsidy; and, another P30 billion for a recalibrated “Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Displaced (Tupad) workers program of the labor department.
“The rehiring subsidies can be for businesses of all sizes so they can rehire furloughed, irregular or retrenched workers,” Salceda said. “The MSME wage subsidies will help small businesses.”
The lawmaker further explained that the Tupad workers program will be distributed as follows: P5 billion for rice farmers; P10 billion for non-rice farmers; P5 billion for fishermen and forestry; P5 billion for the tourism sector; and, P5 billion for barangay development programs.
“The tourism programs will be in partnership with the DOT [Department of Tourism]. The hospitality sector is experiencing something like a ‘revenge tourism’ phenomenon. All deferred travel is being taken now,” he said. “So they can serve as tour guides, tourism site maintenance, tourist assistants and others. Priority should be given to those who were not recipients of previous Tupad legs.”
The lawmaker emphasized that with the reopening of the economy and vaccination rates near targets, “people are learning to live with the virus.”
“Recovery is at hand. You want recovery plus, because the pandemic also took more out of our economy than a regular downturn would.”
Salceda added that Tupad workers could also complement the public works program.
“You could see less than usual public infrastructure spending and completion due to hiring restrictions under Comelec [Commission on Elections] rules,” the lawmaker said. “You would want to make up for it with employment programs for Barangay-level works.”