PRESS RELEASE
April 14, 2011
MANILA — Graduating students of the University of the Philippines Manila will hold a lightning rally at their Graduation Ceremonies tomorrow to condemn the Dept. of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) much-touted 60,000 jobs as an ‘insult’ to their diplomas, and to demand government programs that will generate decent job opportunities.
They said the vast majority of the 60,000 jobs are either ‘low-paying’, such as bus conductors, tutors, and ‘promo girls’; ‘contractual’ such as call center agents, or ‘abroad’.
“We did not burn the midnight oil for four years or more just so we can be given low-paying, contractual jobs” said graduating student and University Student Council member Frank Abris.
“Neither do we desire to be put at risk just to earn a living, like those in the Middle East who face bombs and riots, those in Japan who face tsunamis and nuclear meltdowns, and commonplace ‘hazards’ of OFWs such as being abused, raped, and even murdered” he added.
The student leader dismissed the concept of ‘job-skills mismatch’ as a ‘fiction’ designed to cover up the government’s failure to generate meaningful job opportunities at home, and to push more and more new graduates to work abroad.
“Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social scientists, and artists are badly needed if our country is to develop and prosper. The problem is that the government wants us to be cheap labor for foreign countries, that’s why they are saying there are many jobs but we simply do not meet the requirements of those foreign jobs” said Abris. #
