Some 12,386 displaced or disadvantaged workers in the Ilocos Region have earned income this first quarter of 2022 through the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD), an emergency employment program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
In a statement issued on Thursday, DOLE Ilocos information officer Justin Paul Marbella said the total amount disbursed for the wages of workers reached PHP44 million.
“The workers earned their wages ranging from PHP3,400 to PHP5,100,” he said.
The TUPAD workers rendered labor in various community projects, such as cleaning and disinfection, and greening and tree-planting activities, while the projects were done in the beneficiaries’ respective barangays for a period of 10 to 15 days, he added.
Of the total number of beneficiaries, 1,198 were from Ilocos Norte, 1,276 from Ilocos Sur, 944 from La Union; and Pangasinan’s Districts 1 to 2 (951), Districts 3 to 4 (4,925), and Districts 5 to 6 (3,092).
DOLE Ilocos regional director Evelyn Ramos said the agency continues to implement the TUPAD program as it has been exempted from the election spending ban by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“The Comelec granted exemption to TUPAD and four other DOLE programs on February 10 this year, following Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III’s request,” she said.
Ramos added that Bello underscored that these DOLE programs are “demand-driven” and have served the marginalized, vulnerable, and under-privileged beneficiaries for decades, hence their exemption from the ban.
Source: Philippines News Agency
