Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III assured that the agency is ready to provide assistance to workers who may be affected by the tighter restrictions being imposed in Metro Manila.
In President Duterte's prerecorded "Talk to the People" address, Bello said they were expecting some 100,000 to 200,000 workers that will be affected while the National Capital Region (NCR) was under the more stringent Alert Level 3.
"In anticipation to the possibility of some of our workers being temporarily terminated or will be having reduced working hours, our department is prepared to provide," Bello told President Duterte on Thursday night, Jan. 6.
The DOLE, together with the Department of Tourism (DOT), already allocated a total of P50 million budget under the COVID-19 Adjustment Program (CAMP) for affected workers in the tourism industry, Bello noted.
The DOLE chief also assured that the Department is ready to allot P1 billion in case of a "worst-case scenario" or during extreme alert level restrictions.
"We are prepared for any eventuality kasi maganda-ganda naman ang budgetary allocation na binigay ninyo sa amin, especially doon sa aming programa para sa mga informal workers," he added.
Among the assistance being eyed to be implemented by the DOLE is providing a one-time cash aid for displaced workers, Bello said.
Based on the data shared by Bello, a total of 3,284 workers have been displaced from 267 business establishments nationwide, while 5,762 workers have their working hours reduced as of Thursday, Jan. 6.
Meanwhile, a total of 333 business establishments went into temporary closure.
Alert Level 3 was hoisted over Metro Manila from Jan. 3 to 15 amid the rising cases of infection in the past days.