-
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 24 April) – A total of 5,156 private workers affected by the ongoing enhanced community quarantine in Region 12 or Soccsksargen have already received emergency financial assistance as of Friday from the national government.
Sisinio Cano, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)-Region 12 director, said the concerned workers each received PHP5,000 cash assistance under the 2019 coronavirus disease or COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program.
He said they have so far released a total of PHP25.78 million to qualified beneficiaries from the region’s four provinces and five cities.
“The affected workers were from a total of 429 establishments that already availed of the (subsidy program),” he said in a statement.
Cano said these were establishments or businesses that have implemented flexible work arrangements or forced to close down temporarily due to the implementation of quarantine measures against COVID-19.
He said the affected entities were earlier advised to apply for the assistance for their workers.
The official said the cash subsidy was directly received by the beneficiaries through money remittance centers so they will no longer flock to their field offices.
Cano said they were overwhelmed with the messages from recipients who went to social media to express their gratitude to the national government and DOLE for the assistance and the fast processing of their claims.
“We are really happy that more workers have benefited from our program,” he said.
He added that they will continue to find ways to assist workers and companies in the region who were affected by the COVID-19 quarantine. (MindaNews)