DOLE given additional P1B for OFW program

There’s good news and bad news for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) displaced by the COVID-19 crisis: the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) has received an additional P1-billion financial assistance for its Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong (Akap) program for OFWs from the Department of Budget and Management.

But “it’s still not enough,” according to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, who said he had asked for an additional P2.5 billion for the program.

“We will live with it for the meantime. They might still change their mind and add to it,” Bello said at a Laging Handa briefing on Thursday.

411,000 applications

Bello said the agency had underestimated the number of OFWs who would need help, pegging the figure at 150,000. It has received 411,000 applications so far.

Under the Akap program, OFWs whose jobs were affected by the COVID-19 crisis, could get a one-time cash assistance of P10,000 or $200.

The program has a budget of P1.5 billion, which has not yet been depleted since the agency has approved only about 100,000 applications, Bello said. The assistance would continue as long as funds allow, he added.

Livelihood assistance

Bello said the Dole would also give livelihood assistance to OFWs who had returned home or were unable to leave because of the pandemic to help them set up small businesses. They could also avail themselves of interest-free loans, he added.

The labor secretary added that the Dole would focus on preventing the displacement of workers, and would try to convince business owners to just suspend operations or cut their workforce by half and have them report alternatively every other week.

“Their pay might be lessened, but their status as employees remain,” Bello said.

He reiterated his earlier statement that the pandemic has replaced as many as 2.5 million workers.