MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has earmarked a budget of P19 billion as financial assistance to almost two million Filipino workers in the country and around 500,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for 2021, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Thursday.
According to Bello, DOLE originally only had a P16 billion budget for this assistance program but this increased by P3 billion with funds from the Department of Tourism (DOT) for tourism workers whose jobs were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Meron kaming mga total of P16 billion, nadagdagan pa ng P3 billion although this is the budget of the Department of Tourism because this is intended to provide assistance to those working in the tourism industry,” he said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.
He explained that the DOLE was tasked to implement the distribution of the P3 billion funds from the DOT.
According to Bello, the department has a budget of P5,000 for each qualified formal worker, or a person employed in a company, and $200 or P10,000 for OFWs affected by the pandemic.
Aside from the financial assistance to formal workers and OFWs, Bello said the DOLE also has a budget allocation for informal workers.
“Ito [informal workers], ‘yung mga self-employed kagaya ng mga tricycle drivers, sidewalk vendors, labandera, manikurista (These are the self-employed individuals like tricycle drivers, sidewalk vendors, those doing laundry, and manicurists),” Bello said.
“They have been displaced also so we have to provide them assistance by providing them temporary employment from 10 to 15 days and pay them the minimum wage in the region where they come from,” he added.