By Leslie Aquino "We have been forthright and transparent." Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said this on Tuesday, April 14, as he belied the claim of some groups that the labor department is underreporting or downplaying the actual number of workers affected by the community quarantine. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III (ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) "Our numbers are based on reports submitted to our field and regional offices by establishments, indicating the extent by which the national health emergency affects each one of them," he said in a statement. "We have not, in fact, discontinued accepting establishment reports so that we may have a better picture of the impact of the health emergency on the workplaces. And the numbers keep getting bigger by the day," added Bello. He said it is their desire to reach and assist the most number of workers. "On several occasions, we have called on enterprises and companies to submit to them the names of their workers and employees, regardless of employment status, so that we can provide assistance under our amelioration scheme Covid Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP)," said Bello. "There is no reason for us in government, much less in the labor department, to play with numbers — underreport or otherwise downplay them," he added. The labor chief revealed that their one time P5,000 assistance under CAMP already benefited about 220,000 workers with close to P1.1 billion in assistance funds. Bello also reported that as of April 13, they have recorded the displacement of 1,428,841 workers as reported by 52,993 establishments. "More than one million of those were due to temporary closures while the balance were affected by various flexible work arrangements," he said. "This is not counting the number of informal sector workers in their hundreds of thousands who are also needing financial assistance." Bello added.