DOLE set to distribute P13-B fund

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is ready to give out P13 billion in funds from the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act to help workers displaced by the pandemic, according to Undersecretary Joji Aragon.

The funds are now with DOLE’s regional offices, Aragon said on Friday.

“Probably by this week or early part of next week, this would be rolling,” Aragon said at an online briefing.

Aragon said P5 billion would be for COVID-19 adjustment measures program that would benefit over 993,000 workers.

Another P6 billion will go to the emergency employment program which is expected to benefit 863,000 displaced workers from the informal sector.

The remaining P2 billion will be for some 200,000 displaced overseas Filipino workers, she said.