Ahead of Labor Day, gov’t throws lifeline to COVID-19 programs for workers

by Prinz Magtulis (Philstar.com), 29 Apr 2020

MANILA, Philippines — Fresh funds will be funneled by the government to two flagship programs meant to assist formal and informal workers displaced by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), one of which was earlier suspended for lack of funds.

An additional 530,000 workers will get assisted by the combined P2.5 billion new allocations for the COVID-19 adjustment program (CAMP) as well as the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Displaced/Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD) program, officials from the labor department said on Wednesday.

The new funding represents reliagned budgets from the agency’s 2020 outlay, although the department did not say which programs will get unfunded as a result of reallocation to CAMP and TUPAD.

For CAMP, which the department two weeks ago cancelled due to lack of funding, an additional P1.5 billion will be allocated. CAMP provides a one-time monetary benefit of P5,000 to each qualified applicant.

With the earlier budget of P1.6 billion hiked to P1.74 billion due to fund realignments from regional offices, Labor Assistant Secretary Dominique Rubia-Tutay said CAMP will now have P3.24 billion worth of outlay.

The agency was supposed to complete paying out 321,975 displaced workers from companies and enterprises that halted operations by April 30 using the initial P1.6 billion. With new funding, Tutay said the number of workers to be assisted will increase to “about 650,000 workers.”

Payouts will be completed “hopefully this week,” she said in a Viber message.

At around 650,000 however, the government will not even be able to subsidize half of the ballooning number of workers left with no job during the lingering outbreak and national and local lockdown enforced to stop the virus spread.

As of April 29, the labor department said in a statement 2.3 million workers had been displaced by the pandemic, “around 1 million” of whom will be “unserved under the special amelioration program.” The number is still bound to increase as the government continues to receive reports from employers.

As for informal workers, Labor Director Karen Trayvilla said in a text message “approximately additional 200,000 workers” will get employed and be paid the minimum wage for 10 days under TUPAD. This will be on top of 275,000 beneficiaries already assisted with the initial budget of “over P1 billion.”

Migrant workers get reprieve, too

As for displaced overseas Filipino workers, the labor department said in a statement “more than 70,000” OFWs already received their P10,000 lump-sum subsidy under a separate program called AKAP. The program has a budget of P1.5 billion, of which “close to 50%” have already shelled out.

More than 297,000 OFWs are reportedly seeking cash assistance, according to the Philippine overseas labor offices and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.