P1.8B cash aid for tourism workers already released —Puyat

Around P1.8 billion worth of financial aid for over 300,000 workers have already been released as of May 26, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said Friday.

“The payment for 367,328 workers amounting to P1.8 billion were already remitted and released to the various payment centers,” Puyat said during the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC) forum.

Meanwhile, 203,334 approved applicants are still waiting for the disbursement of the cash aid which amounts to P1.1 billion.

Puyat said the Department of Tourism and Department of Labor and Employment have approved the financial assistance application of 575,919 tourism workers .

This amounts to P2.8 billion worth of cash aid out of the P3 billion allocated for tourism workers under the Bayanihan To Recover As One Law commonly known as Bayanihan 2 Act.

The DOT chief said the P3 billion allocation is not enough to cover all the workers in the tourism industry.

“Kulang na kulang pa (This aid is still not enough) because as of 2019, 5.7 million people had jobs because of tourism. This is 13.5% of the workforce of the Philippines and this [assistance] will only cover 600,000 [workers],” she said.

The Bayanihan 2 Law is set to expire on June 30, 2021.

Under the said measure, Puyat said the DOT was given P3.1 billion for cash assistance. Of the amount, P3 billion will proceed to tourism workers while the 100 million will be given to tour guides.—AOL, GMA News