DOLE seeks P2.8 billion for COVID affected workers

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is seeking P2.8 billion to fund the implementation of programs for workers affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic here and abroad.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the DOLE has requested the Office of the President for an allocation of P1.5 billion to assist overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) whose employment will be affected and P1.3 billion for the implementation of assistance programs for formal and informal workers affected by the pandemic.

Bello added that the DOLE has sought funds for the implementation of the Adjustment Measures Program (AMP), Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers Program (TUPAD) and Government Internship Program (GIP).

Assistance will be provided to augment the income of workers who will be placed under flexible work arrangements and those who might be displaced, according to the labor chief.

Both the employers’ and workers’ sectors have expressed support for the adoption of flexible work arrangement proposed by the DOLE to mitigate exposure of workers to the coronavirus.

Bello said the scheme should be based on voluntary agreement between employers and workers, but both sectors should still abide by the occupational safety and health standards.

He added that the DOLE also needs fund for the repatriation of Filipino workers who were barred from entering Kuwait and Qatar due to temporary travel bans imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Bello said more than 700 OFWs in Kuwait and 300 OFWs in Qatar were affected by the temporary ban of flights to and from the Philippines due to the deadly disease.

“Fortunately, Filipinos who are now in Kuwait can stay, but those who were en route after the announcement of the ban were barred entry. We are now considering either flying them back immediately or just wait for the seven-day period, as the Kuwaiti government said that the ban is only good for seven days,”  he said.

Bello added that the Qatari government has agreed to temporarily provide meals and accommodation to 300 OFWs while they are awaiting repatriation.

Job opportunities in manufacturing

Thousands of jobs in the manufacturing sector await workers in the country who might be displaced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bello said a manufacturing company in Laguna has informed the DOLE of its need to hire 3,000 workers.

Bello said EMS Components Assembly and Alliance Mansols Inc. is engaged in the manufacture of electronic assemblies and also a subcontractor to foreign multinational export companies located in Cebu, Laguna, Batangas and Cavite.

Those who will be hired will work at the assembly plant at Lima Technopark in Batangas.

Bello said there is a  “silver lining in the cloud of COVID-19, which is threatening the employment of many Filipinos.”

“This is proof that there are opportunities in adversities,” he said.

Bello had previously called on employers’ organizations and labor groups to help the government ease the impact of the global outbreak.

A prolonged outbreak, according to the labor chief,  is expected to cause severe impact on the employment of Filipino workers in and outside the Philippines.

“But with strong cooperation among the stakeholders, I am confident that we can triumph over challenges posed by COVID-19,” Bello said.

Continuous pay for MM contractuals

Meanwhile, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Commission on Audit (COA) have agreed to Sen. Joel Villanueva’s proposal for the continuous pay of Metro Manila-based contractuals working in the government while the National Capital Region (NCR) is under community quarantine to stem the spread of the COVID-19.

The CSC and COA are meeting today to hammer out the final details of the resolution, which will affect over 100,000 contractual workers categorized as either job order or contract of service, according to Villanueva, chairman of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resource development.

“We are grateful to our government for considering our proposal for job-order or contract-of-service workers in the government to still be paid while work in parts of the government remains suspended to prevent spreading the risk of our people from getting infected by the COVID-19,” he said.

“This will complement the existing work-from-home arrangement that government offices will implement while Metro Manila is under community quarantine. It will allow our colleagues under job-order or contract-of-service categories to be paid while they are telecommuting during the quarantine,” he added.

Villanueva explained that the guidelines covering the payment of workers under job-order and contract-of-service categories are jointly issued by the CSC and COA.

Nearly 670,000 contractual workers in the government are under either job-order or contract-of-service categories as of May last year, according to CSC data.

Some 110,000 of goverment contractual workers are in the NCR where a community quarantine is being implemented from yesterday until April 14.

While the government ordered that a skeletal staffing be implemented in government offices to ensure that services remain unimpeded, the income of daily-paid workers will shrink significantly to the point that they may not be able to provide for their families, he said, adding that this was the context of his proposal for the continued pay of contractual workers in government.

“We hope our CSC and COA officials are able to finalize the guidelines by Monday so that we can ease the concern of our government contractual workers and focus our attention and effort to other problems our country is facing, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the senator said. – With Paolo Romero