DAVAO CITY — If the labor department statement is to be considered, the labor condition of the country starts to improve, but still, hundreds are going home in the provinces after losing their jobs in the cities due to massive closure triggered by the pandemic.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said the country’s Philippines’ unemployment and underemployment rates are starting to recover following record low rates attained by the country at the onset of the Duterte administration.
But not for Ichon Robles who just went home to North Cotabato after losing his job in Metro Manila, “We were fired about 50 of us, our company is not getting any booking for conferences and birthdays, so they have to let go of us, worse, we do not receive aby separation fee.”
Robles’ wife, Cristina who used to work in a beauty parlor in Quezon City, was also terminated as their line of business are among those prohibited to operate during the pandemic because the nature of their job cannot fit the two-meter social distancing policy of the government because they need to get closer to their client who needs their service.
In his report to President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night, August 30, Bello reported the accomplishments of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) during President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s Talk to the People on COVID-19 aired Tuesday morning.
“When your administration started, the DOLE experienced the lowest level of the unemployment rate of 5.1 percent while underemployment rate of 14 percent. But we were hit by the pandemic in March last year,” he told Duterte during the Monday televised talk to the nation address of the President.
“But despite this, we are slowly getting by, the employment rate is slowly picking and the unemployment rate is the unemployment rate is getting down, this is the product of the programs and services which our agency has offered to the workers,” he added.
Under the Duterte administration, DOLE’s budget rose by 142.8 percent. The allocation for its programs Tulong sa Paghanapbuhay Para sa mga Disadvantaged (TUPAD) and Government Internship Program (GIP) also increased by 545 percent, according to the labor chief.
Also, in response to the President’s directive to put an end to endo (end of contract), Bello said DOLE has intensified its campaign for the strict implementation of labor standards, occupational safety, and health standards as well as workers’ rights protection.
DOLE has inspected more than 379,000 companies throughout the country, resulting in the regularization of more than 631,000 workers, the labor secretary reported, adding the initiative was aided by the hiring of additional 710 labor inspectors.
The department also focused on resolving labor disputes and has concluded tackling 540,000 labor cases, benefitting 2,174,000 workers. More than P99 billion in awards were given to the workers.
Under DOLE’s stewardship, workers’ pay in the private sector increased by P17 to P39.5 while the salaries of household workers increased by P500 to P2,000 after the issuance of the department’s wage orders.
To assist unemployed workers, DOLE extended livelihood and emergency employment. Since 2016, the labor department has provided livelihood assistance to 434,493 beneficiaries and emergency employment or TUPAD to 5,427,000 workers.
For those affected by COVID-19, DOLE carried out COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP), TUPAD, Abot Kamay sa Pagtulong sa OFW (AKAP), and the Tabang OFW as part of the government’s Social Amelioration Program under the Bayanihan 1 and Bayanihan 2.
DOLE also handed over P5,000 one-time financial assistance to 2,085,000 affected workers employed by private companies including those in the tourism and education sectors. A total of P10,453,000,000 was released as of July this year, Bello said.
More than 1,300,000 informal workers were employed, with the government allocating P6.8 billion as of June 30, 2021.
Under AKAP, DOLE extended P10,000 or $200 cash to every displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), benefitting 536,764. The government allotted P5,441,000,000 for the program as of July 2021.
With the help of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), some 665,339 OFWs repatriated by the government received government support through an allocation of more than P18 billion.
Bello’s figure is so inspiring but not to the Robles couple who has yet to receive the government support from cash to livelihood assistance.
