In the worst of times

LABOR Secretary Marianito Roque, speaking before the labor committee in Congress last week, said the worst case scenario is that about 200,000 Filipinos could lose their jobs this year. That fallout, which results from the global financial crisis, includes our overseas workers and those employed locally.

The ongoing crisis, which we must not forget comes on top of our country’s own pervading economic woes, would have serious repercussions not just on unemployment, but on food production and supply as well as the environment.

Governments around the world, including ours, have been scrambling to put together stimulus packages that are aimed at reviving ailing economies. But all that remedy coming from the national level would be hardly enough to address the problem.

Provincial governments should also draft policy directions and roadmaps to alleviate the situation, specifically to address those three issues: food supply, employment and protection of our natural resources. The administration of Gov. Amado Espino Jr. – which has been successfully implementing plans and programs in various sectors, especially health, education and tourism – is surely up to that task.

Using the provincial track as their guide, local government units can then adopt and implement programs with their respective internal revenue allotments.

Among the crucial programs that the LGUs must focus on is ensuring the availability of agri-farm products because manufactured and processed foods will expectedly be more expensive in the months ahead.

At the same time, safeguards must also be undertaken to protect the environment from desperate efforts to produce food, which would include illegal fishing operations such as using dynamite, kaingin farming, and the pollution of rivers by fish farmers, among others.

Simultaneously, promotion of job fairs must be endorsed, development of alternative livelihood options should be pursued, and infrastructure projects in towns should be required, no matter how small.

LGUs can also share experiences, knowledge and lessons with each other so that effective and successful projects could be duplicated. And size does not really matter, the small towns could very well teach a good practice or two to the bigger municipalities and cities.

We must not simply accept the grim economic scenario that we have been told to expect this year. On the contrary, it must serve to challenge us, especially our elected officials, to think out of the box for fiscal solutions and ways to keep the economy moving. The best leaders prove themselves in the worst of times.

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