Vice President Leni Robredo’s office created a job listings platform to provide new opportunities for Filipino workers who were displaced by the coronavirus pandemic.

On Thursday, September 10, Robredo said the Office of the Vice President (OVP) has partnered with tech company Elevatech Solutions, which built the website Sikap.PH, where job vacancies will be posted and can be accessed by applicants for free. 

The OVP calls the initiative “bayanihanapbuhay,” a play on the Filipino words for community spirit and livelihood.

“Layunin ng inisyatibong ito na maghandog ng plataporma upang mapadali para sa mga kababayan nating nawalan ng o naantala ang kabuhayan dahil sa pandemya na maghanap ng oportunidad na makapagtrabahong muli,” Robredo said in a Facebook post.

(The goal of this initiative is to offer a platform that will make it easier for our countrymen who lost their jobs because of the pandemic to look for other opportunities to work again.)

The Vice President said employers who wish to post their job listings on Sikap.PH should send their contact details to bayanihanapbuhay@ovp.gov.ph, while applicants looking for a job can go directly to the website and sign up by selecting “I’m a worker.”

To date, there are 2,796 job vacancies available on Sikap.PH. 

This is the latest program crafted by Robredo’s office to help Filipinos cope with the effects of COVID-19, which has so far infected over 248,000 people in the country. 

The lockdowns imposed by the government to help quell the spread of the virus forced companies to close down, with micro, small, and medium enterprises taking the biggest hit. 

The OVP has since partnered with the local governments of Quezon City and Pasig City to operate Community Mart, an app where market vendors can sell online and have their goods delivered to customers by tricycle drivers. 

Robredo’s team has also been raising funds to extend various forms of assistance to frontliners – from giving them locally made personal protective equipment to operating free shuttle services for health workers in Metro Manila and Cebu. – Rappler.com