As many as 40,000 workers in Metro Manila could lose their jobs while more than 100,000 “no-work, no-pay” employees will lose income during the lockdown that begins Friday, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Wednesday as his department sought an additional budget of P2 billion for a one-time cash assistance program.
The requested supplemental budget will go to cash payments to affected workers during the two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) that will be imposed from Aug. 6 to 20 in Metro Manila.
“The imposition of [ECQ] in NCR this August will surely affect successive survey rounds,” said Bello, referring to the monthly Labor Force Survey (LFS).
According to the funding proposal, 39 percent or P776.1 million will be allocated to Metro Manila, 15 percent or P298.5 million to Central Luzon, 9 percent or P179.1 million to Calabarzon, 8 percent or P159.2 million to Western Visayas, 2 percent or P39.8 million to Northern Mindanao, and 27 percent or P537.3 million to other areas that may be placed under ECQ.
Bello said the department will also use a portion of its emergency employment fund or the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program to assist workers who will be displaced by the new imposition of an ECQ in Metro Manila.
Funded under the 2021 national budget, TUPAD has about P4 billion remaining.
Bello said the TUPAD funds may be tapped even as the Department of Labor and Employment has requested the Department of Budget and Management for a supplemental budget of P2 billion to extend assistance under the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program.
Formal sector workers in the National Capital Region who will be displaced or those with less income due to reduced work days or work hours may be eligible beneficiaries of the program, Bello said.
Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary Dominique Rubia-Tutay said the number of workers in NCR who will be affected by the ECQ is projected to reach 300,000-400,000.
Citing DOLE’s Online Establishment Reporting System, Tutay said a total of 152,987 NCR workers had been displaced this year due to permanent closures and reduction of the workforce as of July 30, 2021.
A total of 127,300 workers were also affected due to the reduction of workdays and rotation of workers during the same period.
The same number of workers are expected to be affected during the ECQ period, with an additional 30,000 to 40,000 workers projected to be displaced, the labor official added.
Also on Wednesday, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said the distribution of the cash aid for qualified recipients in Metro Manila will possibly begin on Aug. 6, when the region is under an ECQ.
“We might start the aid distribution once the ECQ starts,” he said in Filipino. “There might be a few changes but the LGUs have the final say in terms of determining who would be included on the list so these things will be easily resolved.”
Some P13.1 billion worth of cash assistance will be distributed to about 10.7 million Metro Manila residents who will be affected by the strictest quarantine status from August 6 to 20.
Año also clarified that the final list of beneficiaries will be provided by the LGUs, with the aid to be distributed either through manual payout, money remittance centers, or house-to-house distribution.
While noting that there is no rule prohibiting unvaccinated persons from leaving their homes, he advised them to be extra careful to avoid contracting COVID-19.
If possible, Año said vaccinated members of the household should be the ones going out to buy food, medicine, or other essential needs.
In an online meeting with the business sector and other Cabinet members on Wednesday, Año encouraged the private sector to chip in their ideas and suggestions on how the lockdowns can be carried out while minimizing the blow on the people and the economy.
In other developments:
* Senator Franklin Drilon said unused funds in the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) could be used to augment funds for cash assistance during the ECQ period. Drilon said as the government scrambles to find money for the cash grants, the PITC is sitting on a pile of unspent cash that should have been returned long ago to the Bureau of Treasury. He urged the Department of Finance to look into the funds that could be sitting idly in PITC. Earlier, the Commission on Audit had flagged PITC for its failure to return P11.02 billion in unused funds to the Bureau of Treasury.
* Senator Imee Marcos urged the Department of Trade and Industry to put on hold price increases it granted manufacturers of basic necessities and prime commodities in July. “We need to help keep down costs for ordinary households because social welfare subsidies are not limitless and their distribution will be staggered,” Marcos said. “Who knows the outcome of this new lockdown and how long wage earners will have to stop earning a living?”