SOME 3,100 stakeholders of La Trinidad, Benguet were given cash assistance from the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (Tupad) program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Monday, December 14.
The 3,100 beneficiaries are among the 15,000 identified beneficiaries of Tupad for Benguet province.
Tupad, a community-based package of assistance of the DOLE, provides emergency employment for displaced workers, underemployed and seasonal workers, for a minimum period of 10 days, but not to exceed a maximum of 30 days, depending on the nature of work to be performed.
Emerito Narag, DOLE Baguio-Benguet Field Office head, said the Tupad beneficiaries on Monday benefitted from P16,275,000 from Bayanihan fund 2.
The beneficiaries comprised of cutflower farmers, drivers, and displaced workers in the town who will be deployed to work for clean-up activities in the environment and reforestation in the community.
"One of the mandates of DOLE is to protect workers, today aside from the cash assistance workers were also given long sleeve t-shirts, face masks, face shields and hand gloves," said Narag, who added that workers are also covered with insurance they are working.
He said the beneficiaries will be monitored by their respective barangay captains.
Also present in the cash pay-out are Benguet caretaker Representative Eric Go Yap, Governor Melchor Diclas, DOLE-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) Director Exequiel Ronie Guzman, and La Trinidad Mayor Romeo Salda.
Yap said the goal is for every household to receive Tupad assistance.
For Benguet province, he said there were 1,000 beneficiaries identified in the 12 towns and 3,000 beneficiaries for Benguet's capital town of La Trinidad.
Yap added the 3,100 beneficiaries of La Trinidad on Monday were given P5,250 cash per individual.
"Itong batch na ito, itong sa Bayanihan 2 nasa P90 million katumbas po siya ng 15,000 plus na katao na mabibigyan ng trabaho ngayong pasko. Sila po ay hindi lamang tatanggap sila po ay magtatrabaho, maglilinis ng mga communities nila. Win-win po nakatanggap po sila ng sweldo maglilinis po sila ng communities," he added.
Yap said the beneficiaries will be working four hours a day.
He said after La Trinidad, they are set to distribute cash assistance to the other Benguet towns in the coming days.