BAGUIO CITY – Some nineteen thousand nine hundred displaced employees from different establishments in the region were validated by the Cordillera office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE-CAR) as initial beneficiaries of the government’s COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) where each of the qualified beneficiaries will receive P5,000 financial aid.
In his report to Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III, DOLE-CAR Regional Director Exequiel Guzman disclosed that as of April 2, 2020, the agency was able to receive the applications of some 1,206 affected establishments where the number of displaced workers was pegged at 19,900.
However, he revealed that as of the aforesaid date, the applications for financial assistance of some 106 affected establishments with a total number of 1,979 displaced workers.
Of the processed and validated establishments and their employees, Guzman reported that the agency was able to release the payment of 98 affected companies with a total number of 1,206 workers equivalent to a disbursement of P6.18 million.
The DOLE-CAR official claimed that the agency continues to receive numerous applications from companies that have been affected by the ongoing implementation of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine that is why officials and employees are working round the clock to validate the legitimacy of the applications for financial assistance for displaced workers prior to working out the release of their benefits.
According to him, the workers that have been validated to benefit from the CAMP were paid through money remittance and that they were notified for them to claim the same from the accredited remittance company.
Under the CAMP, the government will be granting a one-time financial assistance to the employees who were rendered unemployed after their establishments were affected by the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine, provided that, the company will be the one that will apply for such benefit considering that the affected employees have the employer-employee relationship supported by the payroll of the company for the period prior to the implementation of the lockdown.
Guzman appealed to the affected workers to be patient in awaiting the release of their financial assistance once the same shall have been validated by the agency to ensure that what had been applied for is true and correct.
Aside from the CAMP, DOLE-CAR is also providing financial assistance to workers in the informal sector who were affected bythe lockdown through the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) where some 1,142 workers in Baguio were able to be granted the same including some 1,265 workers in Bangued, Abra and some 256 workers from Manabo, Abra.
Under the agency’s TUPAD, close to P10 million was approved by the agency for release to the beneficiaries who will be required to render 10 to 20 days work in their respective barangays to serve as their temporary source of income while awaiting for the situation to normalize.
By DEXTER A. SEE