National employment recovery plan gets green light from Duterte
The P1.14-trillion employment recovery plan that is expected to generate at least 220,000 jobs and assist over 1.4 million Filipinos struggling with unemployment and income losses has finally received the green light from Malacañang.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced Monday, June 28, that President Duterte has signed Executive Order (EO) No. 140, officially adopting the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) as the Philippine government's master plan for the restoration of the country's labor market.
The EO institutionalizes the 20-agency strong NERS Task Force (TF), directing it to implement the strategy from 2021 to 2022 in response to the adverse effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Other items in the recovery agenda include the passage of legislations and policies that strengthen economic and employment recovery; the promotion of retooling and upskilling of workers; the implementation of youth employability programs; the provision of assistance to businesses in the form of loans, deferment of fees, upgrading of processes, among others; the provision of social protection to vulnerable groups; and the continuous monitoring and support to programs with high impact on employment.
The EO stated that the approval of the proposed wage subsidy program for private sector workers is "next in the pipeline." It is a P24-billion safety net program that can help retain as many as one million workers. It will provide workers with a monthly subsidy of P8,000 for up to three months.
On 1 June, the House of Representatives approved Bayanihan 3 Bill or the “Bayanihan to Arise as One Act," which has provisions for the proposed wage subsidy. However, the measure did not make it among the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council’s (LEDAC) priority bills.
This setback would likely be resolved during the NERS Task Force’s next assembly, since EO 140 orders the TF to “conduct a joint evaluation of the policies and effectiveness of the NERS” every three months and submit periodic reports on the results of the joint evaluations and the implementation of NERS to the Office of the President (OP).
The EO also details the composition of the NERS TF, naming as chair the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), with the DOLE and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) as co-chairs.
Members of the inter-agency TF include the Departments of Transportation (DOTr), Tourism (DOT), Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Science and Technology (DOST), Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Agriculture (DA), Agrarian Reform (DAR), Interior and Local Government (DILG), Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Education (DepEd), Finance (DOF), and Budget and Management (DBM), among other agencies.