DOLE releases P30M to help employees of fire-hit NCCC Mall

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has ordered the release of P30 million to provide assistance to more than 2,000 workers affected by the deadly fire that hit NCCC Mall in Davao City last Saturday.

A statement by the  Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) released on Friday said Bello flew to Davao City on Thursday and ordered the release of P30 million to cover the emergency employment of the workers or their dependents for a period of 30 days.

Thirty-eight people, most of them call center agents working on the building's fourth floor, were killed in the incident.

The employment assistance will benefit more than 2,000 workers, including employees of NCCC, SSI, employees of mall tenants, and other employees of the service providers.

The release of P30 million followed the Labor chief's directive to agencies to "provide all possible assistance so that no one will be displaced among the more than 2,000 affected workers."

Also directed to provide assistance were the Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC), Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) and the Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC), the DOLE said.

The DOLE also said that its multi-agencies and officials of its regional office held a series of meetings with the management of NCCC Mall and SSI to ensure the zero displacement of workers affected by the fire.

"NCCC has earlier committed to DOLE that its 616 regular mall workers will not lose their jobs and continue to receive their salaries as they will be reassigned to their other businesses. NCCC management has already submitted a report on the deployment of their regular workers to DOLE and is now being validated," the DOLE said.

For the 192 agency-deployed workers under Bmirck Cooperative, NCCC said that talks are ongoing for their possible deployment to another establishment or malls in the city.

The SSI management, meanwhile, committed that all their employees will be paid salary up to December 31, 2017.

SSI also added that they will be rebuilding within 60 days as they have already found another building for their operations and assured their workers’ employment as soon as their operations resume.

A proposal for the payment of workers’ salary for the 60-day period is also being considered by the principal of SSI in the United States.

In addition, the DOLE regional office along with OSCH and ECC will put up funds to extend P20,000 in assistance to each family of those who perished in the fire.

On the part of ECC, P30,000 in burial assistance will be provided to each family of the 38 victims, including grocery items for the wake which will be followed by the provision of survivorship pension to their families amounting to at least P3,700 per month. —Ted Cordero/KBK, GMA News