200K workers displaced by AL 3 to get P5,000 in DOLE cash aid

AROUND 200,000 workers who were displaced by the Alert Level 3 declarations from the government in its bid to contain the surge in Covid-19 infections are expected to get cash aid from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Labor Assistant Secretary Dominique R. Tutay said they have submitted the guidelines for their Covid-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) this year to Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III for approval.

DOLE allocated P1 billion for its latest round of CAMP to provide beneficiaries a one-time P5,000 financial aid.

“Once it is signed we will give ourselves two days for publication of the guidelines and hopefully by next week we can start the rollout,” Tutay said in a virtual press briefing on Wednesday.

Tutay said the program will be available for workers who lost their jobs due to the permanent closure of their firms and retrenchment, as well as those affected by the temporary closure of their establishments.

She said the beneficiaries of their first two CAMPS last year will not be able to avail themselves of their CAMP 2022 unless they once again became unemployed or temporarily displaced this year.

In a related development, Tutay said the DOLE also allocated another P50 million, for the implementation of CAMP, to specifically cover tourism workers displaced when the National Capital Region (NCR) was placed under Alert Level 3 this month.

She said around 10,000 tourism workers are expected to benefit from the one-time P5,000 CAMP benefit.

“The P50 million is dedicated for tourism sector workers and they are already excluded from the P1 billion CAMP,” Tutay said.

Tutay said they will start implementing the program as soon as their Joint Memorandum Circular with the Department of Tourism (DOT) is signed.

DOLE earlier reported a total of 11,586 permanently displaced workers and 2,344, who were affected by temporary closure of establishments from January 1 to 15, 2022, when the government started raising the Alert Level in NCR and other parts of the country.