The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) admitted Wednesday before the House Committee on Appropriations that the funding allocations for the implementation of its social amelioration programs for 2021 will not be “not enough” to financially assist the workers in both formal and informal sectors adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the House panel’s hybrid deliberations on their proposed P27.5 billion budget for 2020, DOLE Director Warren Miclat cited the need to augment their proposed budget for 2021 to cover more identified beneficiaries from both formal and informal sectors.
"Your Honor, actually hindi po sasapat 'yung naibigay sa amin , 'yung in-approve ng Department of Budget and Management (what was given to us, will not be enough). If Congress, both (the) House and (the) Senate, will restore our original proposal, then we can reach more (of) our identified beneficiaries both in the formal and informal sector,” he told the panel.
He said the DOLE originally proposed P76 billion, P61 billion of which will be under the Office of the Secretary.
Miclat said out of the P61 billion, they proposed additional P40 billion for the implementation of new programs, which include barangay emergency employment program to basically give subsidy to the county’s formal and informal sectors, enhanced Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Displaced/Disadvantaged Workers Program (TUPAD) program, enhanced COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP), and NARS program or Nurses Assigned in Rural Areas.
Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo, Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Ferdinand Gaite, and ACT Teachers partylist Rep. France Castro took note that the DOLE’s P9.9 billion TUPAD budget for 2021 is not sufficient to extend assistance to unemployed Filipinos, which as of July 2020 numbered to about 4.6 million based on the Labor Force Survey.
"Kung P5,000 each, 'yung P9.9 billion ang maseserve lang po ay 2 million workers. Medyo bitin po talaga ang in-approve ng DBM,” Quimbo said.
(If the beneficiary will be given P5,000 each, the P9.9 billion allocation can only serve 2 million workers. What was approved by the DBM is insufficient.)
She asked the DOLE to give the panel its “complete required budget” for TUPAD so that they can “lobby for bigger budget” for the program, which is expected to grant a one-time P5,000 subsidy to affected worker.
“Based on your monitoring, about 3.2 million workers na po ang displaced (have even displaced) from formally registered establishments. Napakalaki po ng difference ng 3.2 million kumpara sa 1.987 million na kaya lang iserve ng P9.9 billion budget for TUPAD (There is huge difference between the 3.2 million and the 1.987 million which can only be served by the P9.9 billion budget for TUPAD) ,” Quimbo said.
During the deliberation, DOLE-Bureau of Local Employment Director Dominique Rubia-Tutay said they decided to make the TUPAD subsidy a one-time cash aid "because we still have so many unserved affected beneficiaries not just for TUPAD, but also for CAMP in the formal sector and AKAP (About Kamay ang Pagtulong) for overseas Filipino workers.”
Quimbo asked the DOLE to give due attention to the National Capital Region (NCR), which recorded an unemployment rate of close to 16 percent.
She expressed concern that 1 million individuals are unemployed in Metro Manila.
Tutay confirmed that among the 17 regions, NCR is still the highest in terms of unemployment rate at 15.8 percent, as of July 2020 based on the Labor Force Survey.
"NCR is still the highest in terms of affected workers by the COVID pandemic,” he said.
Gaite said they are seeking to double the budget for DOLE's SAPs.
He said the budget augmentation can be sourced from the “pork barrel” or funding allocated to the National Task Force on Ending Local Armed Conflict (NTF-ELAC), which has been given P19.1 billion under the proposed 2021 national budget.
"Sa halip na sayangin natin ang pera ng bayan para dito sa pork barrel ng mga Heneral, gamitin na lang natin ito para sa direktang tulong para sa ating mga manggagawa (Instead of wasting the people’s money for the pork barrel of the generals, it should be used to directly assist our workers.),” Gaite said.
Castro, an Assistant Minority Leader, sought a higher budget for social amelioration programs of DOLE to financially assist private school teachers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We have received numerous reports of private school teachers who have been retrenched due to closure of schools, lower enrollment rate in private schools and even replaced by new hires. These private school teachers have received little to no aid from the government from their social amelioration programs. Having inadequate budget allocation for these social amelioration program would only mean that many private school teachers will still not be able to avail of these aid from the government,” she said.
Castro asked the DOLE to submit a list of closed private schools and a list of private school teachers who were able to avail its COVID-19 response programs.
"There are overwhelming number of complaints from private school teachers on how they were excluded from financial assistance of the government since the various generalized lockdowns were imposed," Castro said.
"Many private school teachers already do not receive any monthly compensation from their schools. Many schools who applied for the amelioration measures of DOLE were also deemed unfit to receive financial assistance based on the qualifications of DOLE or were rejected due to exhaustion of their initial funds. We fear that with the small budget for social amelioration for private workers, private school teachers will again be excluded from the augmentation measures of DOLE.”