Thank you. Thank you, Secretary Benny Laguesma.

[Please let’s be seated.]

Our DTI Secretary, Secretary Fred Pascual; the NEDA Secretary, Secretary Arsenio Balisacan; the Fourth District Representative of Rizal, Juan Fidel Felipe Nograles; and all of you participants to the 2024 National Employment Summit; my fellow workers in government; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

I welcome you all to the first-ever National Employment Summit.

It is a momentous occasion because we gather the key players and stakeholders in the labor sector for the formulation of the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Plan or the TPB Plan. This is a Ten-Year Roadmap that will serve as a guide towards greater employment generation and towards recovery.

In line with our priorities, and the outcomes that we desire, and strategies stated in the Philippine Development Plan, the Philippine Labor and Employment Plan, the Strategic Investment Priority Plan, and the Workforce Development Plan, the TPB Plan will be one of the driving forces to help create at least three million new jobs by the year 2028.

Beyond generating employment, what we want to achieve is creating quality jobs, with special emphasis on ensuring workers’ welfare, empowerment, competitiveness, and security in all sectors of our labor sector.

This is why the government is working doubly hard to address the proverbial problems that we have always faced — job-skills mismatch, underemployment, [and] unemployment through the reforms in our basic education curriculum, the embedding of TVET in the Senior High School curriculum, and the implementation of employment facilitation initiatives.

My dear colleagues, this is the perfect time for our key players to come together—from workers, to employers, government, other partners, private sector partners—to harness the spirit of bayanihan as we meet the emerging needs in the local, national, regional, and international labor markets. Which has become such an important part of the Philippine experience.

We have exciting times that lie ahead. We look forward to the new jobs, the new sectors, the new opportunities that are waiting for us and for the Philippines.

So let us lay the groundwork that will ensure that the next decade will be a decade of meaningful employment and economic growth.

Let us craft a TPB Plan with the goal of ensuring that our people are reaching their fullest potential as active participants in building our nations and our world.

At this juncture, allow me to acknowledge the efforts of the Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the National Economic and Development Authority, together with our partners in the employment sector for shepherding this important plan to this fruition.

Equally important is the participation and contribution of trade unions, of industry tripartite councils, federations, employers’ groups, and other participants during the regional conversations that paved the way to this Summit that we are attending today.

Let me also commend all of you for the signing of this Employment Covenant.

Because it is a document that will serve as another crucial input to the 10-year Trabaho Para sa Bayan Plan.

Altogether, the Covenant and the TPB Plan will ensure the inter-agency and multipartite approach to achieving our objectives for productive, remunerative, and decent employment generation.

To our partners from the private sector, I once again call on you to work closely with [the] government to create more quality and green jobs for our workers.

May you also take advantage of the incentives and reforms that we have put in place to expand your operations, generate more employment and opportunities for all Filipinos.

To those development partners who have played an important part in bringing us to this day, we thank you once again, for helping us strengthen a more resilient and prosperous economy that provides decent, quality jobs for Filipinos. And I look forward to our future collaborations.

To our workers, I urge all of you to continue honing your skills and competencies to be ready for the exciting employment opportunities that lie ahead of us.

We in government will support this effort and provide that upskilling and reskilling, as we are now referring to it, so that we are competitive not only in the local job market but also in the international labor markets.

The new technologies that are coming in have changed the priorities of every economy.

The arrival of the digital economy, the expansion of the digital space, the soon —- actually, it’s already here, we just don’t quite realize, but the increasing involvement of AI requires the technical knowledge, and the technical training, and experience, for us to be able to participate. And that is the job of government.

The job of the government is to be able to bring you to the skill levels that are required so we can compete in the job markets, once again, here in the Philippines and also abroad.

So, rest assured that this administration will continue to ensure the sustainability of jobs, upskilling, and reskilling of our workers to maintain the productivity and the edge of our labor force and our economy.

With our unity and cooperation, I’m certain, we will not only survive but thrive in the evolving job market, ensuring [that] no Filipino is left behind as we move forward.

So, let us embrace this unified vision. Let us fully heed the call of the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Plan.

Muli, maraming salamat sa inyong pagsisikap na pangalagaan ang kapakanan ng ating mga manggagawa at maisulong ang isang Bagong Pilipinas.

Mabuhay tayong lahat!

Marami pong salamat at magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat. [applause]

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