ILOILO CITY — Around 1,500 displaced workers from the informal sector on Boracay Island are now engaged in the 30-day emergency employment under the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disavantaged/Displaced (TUPAD) Workers program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
They are the third batch of the beneficiaries of the program, said Atty. Johnson Cañete, Regional Director of DOLE in Western Visayas.
These workers are engaged in the ongoing rehabilitation works on the island, which involve clean-up of canal, drainage systems and the shoreline of the long White Beach.
Since the closure of the island last April 26, Cañete said that they have already assisted the employment of 2,963 workers in two batches.
A total of PHP23.2 million has been paid for the salary of the workers, with each of them receiving PHP9,700.
The employment provided is only one-time and good for a month. Cañete said the beneficiaries could no longer re-avail of the program.
“Under the general rule of TUPAD, it should only be 30 days,” he said in a press conference Wednesday.
But Cañete said that other members of the household can qualify for the program.
“We can have a second round but not on the same member of the household,” he said.
Cañete said they have also referred TUPAD beneficiaries, who have completed the emergency employment, to the cash-for-work program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) so that they will continue to earn money.
He added that they were also referred to avail of the other services of other government agencies, like the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), also of DSWD.
Meanwhile, DOLE urged the displaced and suspended workers from the formal sector of the island to avail of the Boracay Emergency Employment Program (BEEP) Adjustment Measures Program (AMP) because they have only received around 10,000 applications out of the 20,000 target.
Under the program, displaced workers are provided with 50 percent of prevailing minimum wage in the region or PHP4,250.50 while retained workers who do not receive regular wage were provided with 25 percent of minimum wage or PHP2,102.75. (Cindy Ferrer/PNA)
