There will be a slight change in the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) of the government in the event that the one-time P5,000 cash assistance program for formal sector workers is revived.
This was revealed by Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay during Thursday's "Laging Handa" press briefing.
"There will be a slight twist in our CAMP because what we want is for it to be a wage subsidy to be given to business establishments," she said.
Tutay added that this time, the consideration is companies should hire back their employees before they are given the wage assistance.
"The objective here is to preserve and protect the employment of our formal workers," she said.
The Labor official expressed hope that the proposed “Bayanihan to Recover as One Act" will be enacted into law so that they can continue the CAMP and their other assistance programs.
The CAMP, which was rolled out on March 23, served as a safety net for workers in the formal sector to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 15, the Labor department ceased to accept online applications for CAMP, saying the available fund for the program amounting to P1.6 billion is very close to being "depleted" due to the big number of applicants.
The latest Job Displacement Monitoring Report of the DoLE revealed that as of July 12, more than 120,000 workers were displaced nationwide from 4,955 establishments.
Of the 4,955 establishments, DoLE said 4,454 reduced workforce while 501 reported permanent closure.
The report said the 501 firms that reported permanent closure displaced a total of 10,987 workers while the 4,454 companies that retrenched workers affected 110,934 employees.