Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Wednesday the 7.3 million jobless Pinoys the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported are “not actual nor factual.”
Bello insisted during the Laging Handa virtual press briefing that figures of Filipinos who lost their jobs in April were only in the thousands, and not in the millions.
“Unang una, klaruhin natin po ‘yung [7.3] million eh kwan’ yan, hindi actual ‘yan. Kasi kung tutuusin, ang actual number of unemployed ay umaabot lamang po sa 69,000 at ang mga nagsabi na nagsara sila ay 2,068 companies or employers,” he said.
(Firstly, let us clarify that the 7.3 million is not actual. Because the actual number of unemployed is only 69,000 and those who closed are only 2,068 companies or employers.)
“‘Yun pong 7.3 million ay survey pa lang po ‘yan, hindi pa po ‘yan actual o factual,” added Bello.
(The 7.3 million, it’s only in the survey. It’s not actual nor factual.)
However, National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said: “We stand by our report.”
Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest Labor Force Survey showed Friday that the unemployment rate in the country rosed to 17.7 percent or equivalent to 7.3 million jobless Pinoys due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Unemployment rate rose to 17.7%, equivalent to 7.3 million unemployed Filipinos in the labor force in April 2020,” National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said.
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Kidapawan City barangay under monitoring for dengue cases
Health authorities are monitoring a village in Kidapawan City after it reported 11 cases of dengue following the rains last week.
Mayor Joseph Evangelista said they are currently monitoring two viruses – dengue and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The dengue cases allegedly occurred in Barangay Ginatilan.
The city also had a shortage of blood platelets for patients who need a blood transfusion because the refrigerated centrifuge of City Blood Bank is broken since May 5.
Evangelista asked the City Council to approve a supplemental budget worth P13 million, half of which will be allocated for the acquisition of a new refrigerated centrifuge.
The rest of the funds will be used for projects related to the COVID-19 crisis, including the purchase of medical supplies.
“We just hope and pray that we won’t have many severe dengue cases that need platelet transfusion, or else, we will transfer them to bigger hospitals with refrigerated centrifuge,” said the mayor.