BORACAY – Over a thousand emergency employment beneficiaries in this famed island resort received a total of P14,578,592.72 from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
The 1,668 were under DOLE’s emergency employment program dubbed as the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD).
The amount was for the services that the workers rendered from April 26, the beginning of the island’s half-year closure, to May 31.
Of the total amount, P2,267,249.75 were released to 307 workers from Barangay Yapak, P8,944,877 for 980 workers from Barangay Balabag and P3,366,465.97 for 381 workers from Barangay Manoc-manoc.
The workers were from Boracay’s informal sector and indigenous people who were affected by the island’s shutdown.
They were the first batch of the TUPAD program, which targets to help 5,000 people, according to DOLE secretary Secretary Silvestre Bello III.
TUPAD program is a part of DOLE’s comprehensive package of assistance to mitigate the adverse economic impact of the island’s ongoing rehabilitation.
DOLE has already hired 1,292 workers for the program’s second batch – 638 from Barangay Manoc-manoc, 360 from Barangay Yapak and 294 from Barangay Balabag.
DOLE Region 6 director Johnson Cañete said these workers will continue to assist in the efforts of the government to rehabilitate Boracay for another 30 days.
Cañete added that DOLE 6 is coordinating with the chief executives of the three barangays and other concerned agencies to identify the areas where TUPAD workers will be deployed. (With DOLE Region 6/PN)
