THE Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) in Western Visayas is assuring that the P448-million fund intended by the government to assist those affected by the closure of Boracay Island in Aklan will benefit the rightful workers and recipients, its top official said.
Dole-Western Visayas Director Lawyer Johnson Cañete, who led the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) Meeting at the Sugar Workers Development Center in Bacolod City on Wednesday, June 6, said the agency has set guidelines to ensure that its Adjustment Measures Program (Amp) for Boracay workers will not be abused.
Cañete said the P448 million fund already downloaded by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will cover about 18,000 profiled registered workers, and 5,000 informal sector workers and indigenous peoples (IPs) in the island.
“For the informal sector and IPs, they can be covered as beneficiaries as long as they submit the profile form given to them,” he said, adding that those belonging to about 18,000 profiled registered workers are the program’s outright beneficiaries.
Under the guidelines, registered workers can be qualified if they have not been working since the closure started in April until October.
They will receive a monthly allowance or subsidy amounting to P4,205 for six months.
If the displaced workers are currently having part-time jobs, they are entitled to receive a one-time assistance of about P6,000 which is equivalent to 25 percent of their three-month salary.
Cañete said applicants should fill out the Boracay Emergency Employment Program (Beep) form, present certificate of employment as proof that they are displaced workers of the company, and provide government identification cards.
Also, they must have a Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) account for the assistance will be released by the Dole directly to the bank, Cañete said.
“Before they are given the assistance, it should be validated by our focal persons in every province through an orientation,” he said, adding that “all our transactions are audited thus, we are ensuring to really benefit the rightful ones.”
As of June 6, Dole-Western Visayas reported that there are at least 70 registered workers from Negros Occidental and Bacolod City who applied to avail themselves of the program.
Their applications are now being processed through LBP, Cañete said, pointing out that IPs and those in the informal sector will only come from Boracay and not in other provinces.
Aside from those in Negros Occidental, displaced workers or wage earners from other provinces who have left Boracay already since the start of closure may still file their applications.
Cañete said the applications are now accepted in all Dole offices in the country.
Meaning, displaced workers may apply in their respective provinces.
In all other regions, workers should also open an account with LBP. However, the bank can only cater up to 10 clients per day which may take so long to cover thousands of applicants.
“So for Negros Occidental, we made an internal agreement with the bank that workers will be receiving the assistance through cash cards instead of applying for an account,” Cañete added.
In terms of the deadline, they can still apply until September but not after the scheduled end of closure in October unless the rehabilitation will continue after the six-month period.
Aside from Amp, the regional agency has already provided jobs to 1,407 workers through its emergency employment program for the first batch.
About 1,500 more workers are now availing themselves of the program for the second batch, it said.
In terms of livelihood, it has implemented P6 million worth of projects for various groups in the island, it added.
Meanwhile, aside from the status of RCC members' interventions for Boracay affected workers, other matters discussed during the meeting included accomplishments of every agency covering May to April this year.
They also tackled the upcoming activities for the months of June and July including the 2018 Kalayaan Trabaho, Negosyo at Kabuhayan and RCC sportsfest.