A legislator on Tuesday proposed the hiring of workers to plant trees and clean the beaches, rivers, and lakes that flow to Manila Bay.
Party-list Rep. Neil Abayon of AANGAT TAYO recommended to the Duterte administration the rollout of a government-led massive jobs program that would hire millions of unemployed millennials and adult Filipinos to clean up Manila Bay, Laguna de Bay, beaches, rivers, esteros and other waterways as well as plant trees to alleviate air pollution in Metro Manila.
Abayon, a deputy majority leader, made the suggestion as he commended the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Metro Manila Development Authority for their latest Manila Bay clean-up operations.
“The cleanup must be sustained and sustainable. This jobs-and-environment program can achieve this goal,” he said.
Citing Philippine Statistics Authority data released in December, Abayon said the official national unemployment figure is 2.3 million while the underemployed are 6.7 million.