AKLAN – A total of 2,619 informal workers from different towns here availed themselves of the assistance under the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) Tulong Panghanapbuhay Para sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program last August.
Each worker received a salary of P450 per day, or a total of P4,500 for 10 days.
According to DOLE-6 regional director, Atty. Sixto T. Rodriguez, Jr., the salary received by the workers, mostly parents, was used to buy school supplies, uniforms and other necessities for the opening of face-to-face classes in public schools last Aug. 24.
Rodriguez explained that DOLE made sure to release the employment assistance weeks before the start of classes to provide parents an income to buy their children’s needs without needing to borrow money.
DOLE released a total of P13,601,153 for almost 3,000 informal workers in Aklan.
For their part, the TUPAD beneficiaries were more than thankful for the P4,500 wage on top of the protective personal equipment (PPEs) and GSIS group personal insurance coverage package.
TUPAD, DOLE’s flagship employment program, provided qualified beneficiaries with 10-day emergency employment, with the exception of those from the municipality of Malinao, Aklan, who performed 30 days of community service for fencing and sloping land technology establishment.
From August 4 to 29, the beneficiaries engaged in road clean-ups, canal declogging and beautification projects in their respective communities, which are primarily to promote cleanliness and to support the province’s tourism industry.
Earlier, DOLE-6 reported that from January to June 2022, they released P427,585,329.40 worth of emergency employment assistance to a total of 95,261 displaced and informal workers from the different local governments in the region under its TUPAD program.
DOLE-6 said Iloilo city and province have the highest number of beneficiaries, paying P196,064,227.34 of TUPAD funds to 36,405 beneficiaries.
Around P115,892,334 was paid for the wages, PPEs and insurance coverage of 29,042 vulnerable workers in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City.
In the province of Capiz, P37,102,838 worth of TUPAD packages benefited 11,991 informal workers.
DOLE-6, through its Antique field office, also released a total of P39,897,356 for 10,005 beneficiaries in the province.
The 4,567 beneficiaries from Aklan and the 3,251 from Guimaras received their P19,753,030 and P9,852,155.08 wages and other benefits, respectively./PN
