An initial 1,000 workers from the construction and manufacturing sectors in this province were inoculated against coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Thursday during the kickoff vaccination program of the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) Task Force at Hiyas ng Bulacan Convention Center here.

The program was in line with the commitment of the NERS Task Force to facilitate the vaccination of workers under the “Reform, Rebound, Recover the One Million Jobs for 2021” project of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to help boost the economic recovery of the province.

DOLE Undersecretary Benjo Santos Benavidez said the project aims to source workers for deployment for semiconductors and electronics, tourism and hospitality, and export industries, under a policy environment that would help create jobs.

“Here in Bulacan province alone, a total of 10,000 vaccines were allotted and approved by the National Task Force against Covid-19,” Benavidez said.

Governor Daniel R. Fernando, in his welcome remarks, thanked the representatives from NERS Task Force chaired by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and co-chaired by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) as well as the Bulacan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), Philippine Constructors Association, Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers and Semiconductors and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI).

“The NERS is a plan for employment growth from 2021 to 2022 that aims to create an environment that encourages the development and easier employment, economic, and opportunities on training, raise skills, welfare and productivity of workers and support to the current and new businesses to maintain job creation,” Fernando said in Filipino.

DTI provincial director Edna Dizon, meanwhile, said “the DTI is your partner to help the workers return to their work through supporting the industries which were badly affected by the pandemic.”

Under the project, businesses would be responsible for identifying job vacancies from their member-companies and would be working with the NERS task force, she added. (PNA)