CLARK FREEPORT – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has set in place efforts to provide emergency wage employment to “marginalized workers” in areas hardest hit by storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng.
The activation emergency employment assistance program was directed by DOLE Sec. Marianito Roque so as to provide short-term and emergency wage employment to severely affected workers.
“Initially, the emergency employment program intends to assist at least 1,450 workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Regions 3 (Central Luzon) and 4-A (Calabarzon),” Roque said during the opening here yesterday of the 9th Public Employment Service Offices or PESOs Congress.
“We have mobilized DOLE personnel in the three regions to already identify target beneficiaries in the typhoon-damaged areas in coordination with concerned local government units (LGUs),” he added.
He said that in the NCR, the program will benefit 100 workers each in Marikina, Quezon City, Pasig, Pateros, and Taguig; 50 each in Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela in Camanava; and 50 each in Muntinlupa, San Juan, and Mandaluyong.
In Central Luzon, the program will assist 200 affected workers in Bulacan and another 100 in Pampanga. In Calabarzon, it seeks to help 150 affected workers in Cavite and another 100 in Rizal.
Roque said subsistence workers who lost their income and livelihood sources due to the calamity will be prioritized, especially those whose properties were totally damaged and those formerly engaged in a particular craft or skill.
He said the program will provide the beneficiaries, through the LGUs, with emergency employment, particularly in clearing and de-clogging operations and reconstruction, such as the repair of damaged infrastructure, school buildings, daycare centers, drainage, irrigation systems, etc.
The role of the LGUs in the program will be crucial, Roque said, adding that they would help identify the types of reconstruction work for the targeted workers, who will be paid the minimum daily wage during the program’s duration covering at least 15 days.
“The DOLE’s emergency employment assistance program will serve as a short-term relief to help the beneficiaries cope with their situation while seeking to recover and regain their livelihood and income sources from the destruction brought about by “Ondoy,” Roque explained.
Meanwhile, Roque said that his department is also gearing up for the implementation of the new law on the Special Program for Employment of Students, or SPES.
“The program’s continued implementation faces challenges that the DOLE and its social partners, notably local government units, Public Employment Service Offices, or PESOs, as well as employers and other stakeholders must commonly tackle to sustain its viability,” he said.
Director Ma. Criselda Sy of the DOLE’s Bureau of Labor and Employment (BLE) the SPES implementer, said that since the enactment of R. A. 7323, otherwise known as the SPES Law 16 years ago, over 71,000 employers have actively participated in the program, up by 300 percent from the modest 1,431 participating employers in 1993.
R. A. 7323 took effect on March 30, 1992, with a budget of only P42.9 million. This budget has grown to P136.1 million in 2008. Over a 16-year period, the SPES allocation amounted to P2.3 billion.
Sy said, however, that it is in the number of Filipinos that benefited directly that the SPES which is more significant.
The activation emergency employment assistance program was directed by DOLE Sec. Marianito Roque so as to provide short-term and emergency wage employment to severely affected workers.
“Initially, the emergency employment program intends to assist at least 1,450 workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Regions 3 (Central Luzon) and 4-A (Calabarzon),” Roque said during the opening here yesterday of the 9th Public Employment Service Offices or PESOs Congress.
“We have mobilized DOLE personnel in the three regions to already identify target beneficiaries in the typhoon-damaged areas in coordination with concerned local government units (LGUs),” he added.
He said that in the NCR, the program will benefit 100 workers each in Marikina, Quezon City, Pasig, Pateros, and Taguig; 50 each in Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela in Camanava; and 50 each in Muntinlupa, San Juan, and Mandaluyong.
In Central Luzon, the program will assist 200 affected workers in Bulacan and another 100 in Pampanga. In Calabarzon, it seeks to help 150 affected workers in Cavite and another 100 in Rizal.
Roque said subsistence workers who lost their income and livelihood sources due to the calamity will be prioritized, especially those whose properties were totally damaged and those formerly engaged in a particular craft or skill.
He said the program will provide the beneficiaries, through the LGUs, with emergency employment, particularly in clearing and de-clogging operations and reconstruction, such as the repair of damaged infrastructure, school buildings, daycare centers, drainage, irrigation systems, etc.
The role of the LGUs in the program will be crucial, Roque said, adding that they would help identify the types of reconstruction work for the targeted workers, who will be paid the minimum daily wage during the program’s duration covering at least 15 days.
“The DOLE’s emergency employment assistance program will serve as a short-term relief to help the beneficiaries cope with their situation while seeking to recover and regain their livelihood and income sources from the destruction brought about by “Ondoy,” Roque explained.
Meanwhile, Roque said that his department is also gearing up for the implementation of the new law on the Special Program for Employment of Students, or SPES.
“The program’s continued implementation faces challenges that the DOLE and its social partners, notably local government units, Public Employment Service Offices, or PESOs, as well as employers and other stakeholders must commonly tackle to sustain its viability,” he said.
Director Ma. Criselda Sy of the DOLE’s Bureau of Labor and Employment (BLE) the SPES implementer, said that since the enactment of R. A. 7323, otherwise known as the SPES Law 16 years ago, over 71,000 employers have actively participated in the program, up by 300 percent from the modest 1,431 participating employers in 1993.
R. A. 7323 took effect on March 30, 1992, with a budget of only P42.9 million. This budget has grown to P136.1 million in 2008. Over a 16-year period, the SPES allocation amounted to P2.3 billion.
Sy said, however, that it is in the number of Filipinos that benefited directly that the SPES which is more significant.
