Duterte's economic team pushes Build, Build, Build restart and mass hiring

The economic team of President Rodrigo Duterte proposed today restarting and accelerating the government’s Build, Build, Build program to maintain the country’s economic standing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez said the resumption of Build, Build, Build is the best driver of economic growth in the country due to its multiplying effects in terms of employment and shared prosperity.

He emphasized that the government needs to come up with an economic stabilizer so that the country will have sufficient resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dominguez also proposed the mass hiring of contact tracers to boost the government’s response to stop COVID-19 transmission and defeat the coronavirus while providing jobs.

“If we hire these guys to do contact tracing, I think we can provide good jobs to people. We need to hire enough contact tracers to match the number we expect that will come with more testing,” he said.

Dominguez urged the Senate to pass the comprehensive tax reform program before June 3, which will include flexible tax and non-tax incentives to attract more investors in the country.   

The comprehensive tax reform bill remains pending at the Senate.

Dominguez said the government should also stimulate consumer demand and promote manufacturing of products to keep people from panic-buying amid the pandemic.