Close to one million workers have been provided emergency employment through the government's cash-for-work program Tulong Panghanapbuhay para sa Displaced/Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD).
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Monday reported that 939,209 informal sector workers hard hit by the Covid 19 pandemic, those affected by the successive typhoons last month, were served under the program and paid more than P4.5 billion in wages in just close to two months.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the record implementation of TUPAD is pursuant to the directive of President Duterte to speed up assistance to the most vulnerable members of society.
“And this was precisely the instruction we issued to our regional offices: expedite the release of assistance to our workers,” he said in a statement.
In a report to the labor chief, the Bureau of Workers with Special Concern (BWSC) said of the number of beneficiaries, some 797,222 had been paid while 141,989 have ongoing works.
BWSC Director Karen Trayvilla said with the expeditious program implementation, TUPAD beneficiaries may reach more than one million with more funds still available from the P6-billion appropriation under the Bayanihan Act 2.
“We expect more informal sector workers to benefit from TUPAD under Bayanihan 2. That may exceed one million,” she said.
BWSC, which manages the program, had originally targeted less than a million beneficiaries.
According to Trayvilla, DOLE had relaxed the program depending on the needs of the region.
She said beneficiaries are paid for work done for a minimum of 10 days to a maximum of 16 days based on the threshold requirements in the area.
DOLE said the National Capital Region had the biggest TUPAD allocation under Bayanihan 2 which stood at P923.9 million followed by Region 4A at P593.2 million and Region 3 with P587.1 million.
TUPAD is a regular program of the Department of Labor and Employment to provide emergency employment for displaced or disadvantaged workers in the informal sector affected by calamities and disasters.
Meanwhile, Bello said he did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine."
Not true," he said this in reaction to the report that some Cabinet members already received the COVID-19 vaccine.