Presidential bet and Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso on Monday, Nov. 15, vowed to make the creation of new jobs for the unemployed as his top priority.

In his visit to Oriental Mindoro, Domagoso said he will prioritize the creation of new jobs and assistance to pandemic-stricken businesses and industries during the first two years of his term if he is elected as the country's next president.

Maintaining his stand on the issue of labor contractualization or “endo” for end of contract, Domagoso assured that he will address the security of tenure for contractual workers as soon as the country’s economy has already recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Domagoso had earlier said that regularization of contractual workers will not be an immediate priority under his administration.

"Now, cross fingers. Kapag bumuti na ang buhay (When life gets better), then, let’s talk about permanency of jobs, security of jobs, the value of yung effort ng tao,” he said during a press conference.

“For now, I guarantee you, it is in our agenda. But my first agenda is to create more jobs whether it is temporary for six months or one year," he said.

The Aksyon Demokratiko standard bearer, meanwhile, pointed out that the national government must help the people to keep their jobs to survive through the pandemic as there are only limited resources for cash aid.

“Basta makapag-hanapbuhay muna more than anything else because the government cannot sustain every month na ayuda nang ayuda (As long as you can get a job first, more than anything else, because the government can't sustain to give cash aid every month)."