DOLE asks for additional P3.5B for affected workers in formal sector

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will seek an additional P3.5 billion for workers in the formal sector whose incomes were affected by the coronavirus threat, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.

According to a 24 Oras report by JP Soriano on Tuesday, the additional cash may be taken from the social amelioration fund approved by Congress.

Over 300,000 workers in the formal sector were affected by the quarantine enforced by the government to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.

Around 115,000 of them are still waiting for government aid.

“We are facilitating ‘yung delivery ng cash assistance sa inyo na P5,000. May kaunting difficulties kung minsan, may challenges, but we are trying our best to deliver yung cash assistance at the soonest possible time,” Bello said.

He added that the DOLE has already distributed P5,000 in aid to some 119,000 workers in the formal sector amounting to P598 million.

In the informal sector, meanwhile, almost 73,000 people have already been given jobs by the government.

Bello said the DOLE will ease requirements to ensure that workers will be deemed qualified to receive aid.

“We decided na we’ll liberalize ‘yung requirements. Instead of payroll, kung talagang wala, we can settle with payslip. Puwede rin ‘yung kanilang SSS ID, ‘yung PhilHealth ID, ‘yung PAG-IBIG ID. ‘Yung mga payment ledgers nila, we will accept already as alternate to payroll,” he explained.

The government also plans to extend cash assistance to Filipino migrant workers who were forced to return home because of the pandemic. — Julia Mari Ornedo/BM, GMA News