DOLE-7 pays P467M in wages to TUPAD workers
The Department of Labor and Employment-7 has paid over P467 million in wages to TUPAD workers in the different provinces of Central Visayas during the first six months of the year.
The amount benefited around 112,128 disadvantaged and displaced workers, who worked from 10 to 30 days under the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers or TUPAD program.
The localities outside the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu or Cebu Province had the most number of TUPAD beneficiaries at 68,416. They collectively received P280 million as payment for their wages.
The province of Negros Oriental, on the other hand, registered 14,160 TUPAD workers who were paid P72.5 million.
Another 15,912 beneficiaries were from Bohol with the Department shelling out over P64 million for their wages.
About 10,624 workers were from the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu. They were paid P46.7 million.
In Siquijor, around 3,016 of the total beneficiaries benefited the program, whose total wages summed up to P12.1 million.
DOLE-7 OICRegional Director Lilia Estillore, in a statement, said that TUPAD is a community-based package of assistance that provides emergency employment for displaced workers, underemployed and seasonal workers for a minimum period of 10 days, but not to exceed a maximum of 30 days, depending on the nature of work to be performed.
The beneficiaries, Estillore said, will get paid the highest minimum wage rate applicable in the region for a day’s work.
Under this program, workers will render various community works which include cleaning and disinfection; greening and tree-planting activities; de-clogging of canals; maintenance/ improvement of common public facilities; and debris segregation; among others.
“TUPAD is one of the flagship programs of DOLE. And it is our humble intention under this program to provide a financial safety net for many of our informal sector workers including those in the formal sector, who have been displaced from work,” Estillore added.
The TUPAD program is one of the two components of the DOLE Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (DILEEP), which is the department’s contribution to the government’s agenda of inclusive growth through massive job generation and poverty reduction.