By Leslie Aquino
The Department of Labor and Employment has realigned P1.5 billion of its 2020 budget to assist more formal sector workers displaced by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III (ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
The DOLE said Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III ordered the realignment in order to provide a one-time cash assistance of P5,000 to an additional 300,000 workers. These have already been processed under the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP).
"With internally sourced funds, DOLE will now be able to assist a total of about 650,000 workers with P3.24 billion in total CAMP assistance," said DOLE in a statement. The Labor department also revealed that the number of workers displaced by the COVID pandemic has now increased to 2.3 million.
"As of April 28, some 87,301 establishments reported that over 1.6 million of their workers were affected by temporary closures, while 797,729 were on alternative work arrangements due to the quarantine," it said.
So far, the Labor department said it has already provided assistance to 407,300 workers under CAMP. On April 15, DOLE stopped accepting requests for assistance under CAMP after having been swamped with volumes of applications quickly depleting its measly regular assistance fund.
AKAP assistance to OFWs
The DOLE said it has also provided the P10,000 cash assistance to more than 70,000 overseas Filipino workers or close to 50 percent of targeted beneficiaries of the P1.5 billion Abot-Kamay ang Pagtulong (AKAP) assistance fund.
More than 297,000 OFWs, however, are seeking to avail of the cash assistance.
On Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Displaced/Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD) program for the informal sector
DOLE said it will resume next month its regular TUPAD program in areas outside of the extended enhanced community quarantine. "The program will utilize a separate P1 billion realigned regular funds of the department," it said.
According to DOLE, it had already used up over P1 billion to fund the emergency TUPAD Barangay Ko Bahay Ko (TUPAD BKBK) to assist informal sector workers hard hit by the pandemic. It had 275,000 beneficiaries.