By Genevieve Candace R. Poquiz

PHOTO: Bongbong Marcos (Facebook)

Despite the burden on the budget of the administration, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. dismissed the proposal to reduce government workforce to lessen its current spending, citing putting people to unemployment as impractical.

The suggestion was brought up in the first Cabinet meeting of Marcos Jr. in Malacañang as the country recovers from the effects of the pandemic.

“We don’t want anyone out of job at this point,” Marcos said as quoted by Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary (DSWD) Erwin Tulfo in a Facebook post.

This is in response to the Philippine Statistics Authority's report which shows that 2.76 million Filipinos remain jobless, despite an improvement in the unemployment rate from 6.4 percent in January to 5.7 percent in April.

Alternative solutions to reduce government spending, however, were not made. The livestream of the cabinet meeting was cut off in its first five minutes, and the press briefing that the president held did not touch upon this subject.

Problems with government funds are also at an all-time high given the economic impact of the pandemic and the ballooning government debt.

This came as the launch of six satellite offices of the Office of the Vice President brought questions on the manpower required to maintain them, adding to the government spending.


Edited by Mary Khezyll Galvan