DOLE stops accepting CAMP applications as DOF starts wage subsidy program

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will no longer be accepting applications from employers of formal sector workers for its cash aid program as the Department of Finance (DOF) begins its own wage subsidy program, an official said Thursday.

Under DOLE’s COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP), formal sector workers affected by the pandemic are entitled to receive P5,000 as cash aid.

“Doon po sa P5,000 cash assistance na binibigay po ng DOLE, kahapon po, officially, sinabihan na po natin ang ating mga regional offices na ihinto na po ang pagtanggap, pamula ngayon, nun pong CAMP application dahil meron pong pumapasok na programa ang DOF,” DOLE Assistance Secretary Dominique Tutay said in an interview on GMA’s Unang Balita.

(For the P5,000 cash assistance given by DOLE, yesterday, officially, we told our regional offices to stop accepting applications for CAMP because DOF is rolling out its own program).

According to Tutay, DOLE has so far given cash assistance to 236,405 formal sector workers under CAMP out of the 321,975 target beneficiaries.

“Meron pa po tayong almost siguro mga half a million na approved (CAMP applications) na po but some of them are awaiting papers,” she added.

(We still have about half a million approved CAMP applications but some of them are awaiting papers).

Tutay added that DOLE has already requested for an additional budget for CAMP and if approved will cover 500,000 more workers.

Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the P50.8-billion wage subsidy program for workers of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The said program will benefit some 1.6 million small businesses in the formal sector and their combined 3.4 million employees whose livelihoods have been affected by the enhanced community quarantine imposed on the entire Luzon in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, the spokesperson of the country’s COVID-19 task force, said the wage subsidy from the DOF will be paid out in two tranches: from May 1 to 15 and from May 16 to 30.

“Ang target nga po ng DOF ay yung tinatatawag nga po natin na mga middle income or middle class na mga kababayan po natin,” Tutay said.

(The target of DOF’s program are those belonging in the middle-income sector or the middle class).

Workers who fall under the middle-income sector earns P18,200 to 109,200 per month, Tutay noted.

“Ito po ay kasama doon sa uri ng mga manggagawa na tutulungan po ng DOF, subalit ang pagtulong po ay through the employers pa rin po, pararaanin doon dahil isa po doon sa kanilang qualification requirements or eligibility requirement is yun pong compliance with (Social Security System) and (Bureau of Internal Revenue) issuances,” she added.

(They [middle-income workers] are the ones covered by DOF’s program but their application would also have to go through the employers because one of the qualification requirements or eligibility requirement is their compliance with [Bureau of Internal Revenue] issuances).

/MUF