Published May 2, 2021, 12:04 AM (Labor day statement of Former Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr.) The paramount concern this labor day is for our leaders to ensure existing jobs are preserved and new employment is created. 4.2 million Filipinos are now unemployed nationwide, with 1 million workers losing their jobs in the NCR-PLUS bubble alone. It is therefore imperative to further open up the economy to address the growing hunger among our people. But this has to go hand-in-hand with keeping our people healthy and defeating the surge in Covid infections. We therefore strongly recommend and support that priority by IATF should now be given to the mass vaccination by government of all private and public sector employees and workers.