The Department of Labor and Employment – Northern Mindanao (DOLE-10) on Friday said workers in areas affected by the Alert Level 3 or higher that was set by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) can avail of cash assistance.
During an online media forum, DOLE-10 Director Alber Gutib said this is a one-time cash assistance of PHP5,000 under the agency’s Covid-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) 3.
He said CAMP 3 is to help the workers who were affected by permanent closures of the establishments and those who were retrenched as a result of the pandemic.
However, the assistance is for those working on a daily schedule, which excludes those business or office establishments implementing flexible, or work-from-home arrangements, including compressed workweek, and compressed work hours.
“What we are going to do is a first-come, first-serve basis, since the budget is only PHP1 billion, which covers the entire country,” Gutib said.
Applicant establishments should submit their report on permanent closure, temporary closure, or retrenchment of workers to reports.dole.gov.ph.
Gutib said the website has been up and running since January 24, and establishments applying can already avail of the program.
He also said establishments should also submit attachments such as their latest payroll, logbook or ledger, employment contract, cash voucher or petty cash voucher, authority to debit accounts sent by the employers, list of remittance like Social Security System (SSS), PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG, or the list of employees with 13-month pay.
DOLE-10 Technical Services and Support Division Director Atheneus Vasallo said as of January 28, they have only received 39 applications from establishments with 89 workers affected.
He said the region was initially granted 228 slots or a PHP1.2 million budget.
Aid for flood victims
Meanwhile, the DOLE-10 extended its emergency employment program or Tulong Panghanapbuhay para sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program to 11,256 flood survivors.
Earlier, DOLE-10 Field Operations Chief, Emmanuel G. Toledo said the hired TUPAD workers were flood survivors from areas hit by Typhoon Odette on Dec. 16, 2021.
The beneficiaries were tasked to disinfect or sanitize their respective residential surroundings and public areas in their barangays.
Toledo said the first batch of 4,606 workers each received PHP3,650 during the simultaneous payout on December 30 and 31, 2021.
Meanwhile, the second batch of 6,650 workers began the 10-day work on January 13 until 22, 2022.
A total of 30 low-lying barangays have benefitted from the assistance worth PHP42,166,731.
Source: Philippines News Agency
