ILOILO CITY — Some 53 indigenous people (IPs) in Boracay island have benefited from the emergency employment program of the labor department through the “Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers” (TUPAD) program.
Salome Siaton, Assistant Regional Director of Department of Labor and Employment-6 (Western Visayas), on Wednesday said these IPs are just among the 1,323 displaced informal workers in the island that have started their 30-day emergency employment last week.
They were tapped to work in the ongoing rehabilitation works in the island, specifically in the cleanup of canal and drainage systems.
One of the beneficiaries is 21 year-old Anna (not her real name) who lives in ‘Ati’ village at Barangay Manoc-Manoc in the island.
Prior to the closure, she said used to be a construction worker in one of the establishments in the island. Now, she focuses on the cleanup of beach near their village, particularly on green algae removal.
As a mother of two children, Anna said that she availed of the emergency employment to continue providing for their everyday needs.
Nonetheless, she said that she favored the closure, for a reason she did not disclose.
DOLE has 5,000 available slots for the emergency employment of informal workers as committed by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.
But Siaton said that they have profiled so far 3,938 informal workers in the island; 1,323 of them already started work.
They include 1,000 from village of Manoc-Manoc and 323 from the village of Balabag.
Siaton said that workers who applied for the emergency employment from the village of Yapak will undergo orientation on May 3 so they could already start working.
Siaton said that they will ask further help from the village chiefs of these three barangays to identify more informal workers so they could complete the 5,000 slots for emergency employment.
Each worker will receive PHP323.50 a day or they will receive more than PHP9,000 within 30 days, Siaton said.
They will be paid every 15 days and these workers will receive half of their salary on May 18.
Aside from their salary, they are also covered by the accident insurance under the Government Service Insurance System, Siaton added.
Siaton assured that their funds for the salary of these workers are enough and already available. (PNA)
