DOLE program finds jobs for 29K workers in storm-hit areas

AROUND 29,000 workers in the informal sector, who were displaced by recent typhoons in Luzon, were given emergency employment by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

In an interview with

PTV on Thursday, Labor Undersecretary Ana Dione disclosed this was around 30 percent of their targetted 126,000 beneficiaries of DOLE’S Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/ Displaced Worker ( TUPAD) in typhoon- hit areas.

The said beneficiaries were tapped to help in the repair and maintenance of common public facilities, tree planting, assisting local government units ( LGU), transportation services for setting up mobile markets, and disinfection and sanitation of community for 14 to 16 days.

To fast-track the pace of TUPAD implementation, Dione said they hired additional job order employees to augment existing personnel in their regional offices.

Instead of delegating the TUPAD enforcement to LGUS, she said, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III instructed DOLE’S regional offices to “directly” implement the program.

The measure is expected to cut the processing time for the beneficiaries of TUPAD.

After graduating from TUPAD, the said beneficiaries will be given livelihood opportunities by DOLE, according to Dione.

DOLE earlier said it is targeting to provide emergency employment to 863,867 workers before the end of the year using funding from the Bayanihan to Recover as One (Bayanihan 2).