The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Thursday said it is targeting to provide emergency employment to 10,000 workers, who were displaced by the eruption of Taal Volcano.
In a news briefing, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said he has already requested funds for the emergency employment program for displaced residents in 10 areas in Batangas which were hardest hit by Taal Volcano’s eruption.
These are Lemery, Mataasna Kahoy, Agoncillo, Laurel, Talisay, Taal, San Nicolas, Balite, San Jose, and Santa Teresita.
Bello said the government will identify an initial 1,000 emergency employment beneficiaries who will be paid minimum wage and will get personal protective equipment through the DOLE’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program.
“The mayors will give them instruction to maybe clean up the mess created by the eruption then we will pay them for one month,” he said.
Profiling
Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) Director Dominique R. Tutay said the agency will also employ 6,000 of the affected workers in the areas affected by the eruption through its Government Internship Program (GIP).
She said GIP beneficiaries will be tasked to conduct the profiling of the workers, who were displaced because of the eruption and will qualify for emergency employment.
“The DOLE shall allocate a total of P72.6 million for the payment of interns’ services which is equivalent to the prevailing minimum wage for 30 days or P12,050 each and their GSIS [Government Service Insurance System contribution],” said Tutay.
Federation of Free Workers (FFW) President Sonny Matula said his group has received reports that least 5,000 of FFW members in Batangas have been affected by the eruption.
FFW said some of its affected members are now in evacuation centers after the ashfall damaged their homes or have been displaced since their work operations were suspended because of the eruption.
Matula said FFW is now mobilizing their members in other parts of the country to provide aid, either cash or in kind, to their affiliates in Batangas.
FFW International Secretary Alan Montaño said the group is also appealing to international labor federations to donate to the victims of the Taal Volcano eruption.
Permanent displacement
As of January 16, Taal Volcano remains on Alert Level 4, which means hazardous eruption is imminent and could happen within hours or days. This prompted the government to set up a 14-kilometer (km) danger zone around the volcano.
In press briefing, Presidential spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said the government will strictly enforce the “no-entry rule” especially in the 2-km zone near the volcano to ensure that there will be no casualties.
“Ever since the danger zone [was set up], nobody should stay there. But somehow you know, Filipinos are very creative, they want to earn a living. There also tourist who go there,” said Panelo.
“Now [government] will be stricter [in barring people in the 2-km zone],” he added.
Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns (BWSC) Director Ma. Karina Perida-Trayvilla said the government will extend livelihood grants ranging from P250,000 to P1 million to those who will be permanently displaced due to the setup of the danger zone.
“We are envisioning it to be a sequential intervention, after they avail of the TUPAD, which is just stop-gap measure. After that they could avail [themselves] of the livelihood program,” Trayvilla said.
Weddings
The uncertainty as to when the eruption of Taal Volcano will end has left many engaged couples without a venue for their wedding.
Batangas and Tagaytay are home to a number of popular wedding venues but these establishments have been affected by the eruption.
Two churches in Manila—Manila Cathedral and the National Shrine of Saint Michael and the Archangels—announced on social media on Thursday they will accomodate affected to-be wed couples.
“Due to a number of calls and inquiries we are receiving regarding transfer of weddings affected by the Taal Volcano eruption in Batangas and Cavite areas to the Manila Cathedral, we are now opening slots and extending assistance for weddings scheduled this January and February,” Archdiocese of Manila Chancellor Reginald R. Malicdem said.
He urged the interested couples to personally visit the cathedral office to apply for the said slots.
In its Facebook account, the National Shrine of Saint Michael and the Archangels management also said they will extend the same assistance to the affected couples.
Image credits: Roy Domingo