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On unemployment and underemployment: Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon asks Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez to explain the agency’s plans on how it will mitigate unemployment and underemployment in the country. “We have seen lay-offs today in many of our companies. In fact, your department reported that 26 percent of the companies have closed down and about 50 percent are in full operation as of June. Can we have the actual number of firms that closed shop, particularly the Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMSE) and how many workers were affected? What are your plans to mitigate this unemployment and underemployment?” Drilon asked during the budget deliberations of the proposed P22.404 billion 2021 budget of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and its attached agencies Monday, September 28, 2020. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)