THE government will extend cash-for-work, livelihood kits and other forms of aid to around 6,000 individuals affected by the recent eruption of Taal Volcano.
This is on top of the 18,000 food and non-food items from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), which are now ready for deployment at the Batangas Sports Complex.
During the public address of President Duterte on Tuesday night, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said his agency will implement their Tulong Panghanapbuhay para sa ating Displaced/Disadvantaged (Tupad) for eruption victims.
Under Tupad, qualified beneficiaries will be provided work by the government, to last for at least 10 days, and will be paid the minimum wage.
“The minimum wage in Region
4 [is P400] a day, so they will work for 10 days. We will give them P4,000 for 10 days of work,” Bello said.
Currently, their allocation for Tupad implementation in areas affected by the Taal Volcano eruption is only good for around 4,000 individuals.
The labor official said, however, that they are now preparing an additional P50 million to P100 million to assist more workers in areas deemed “high risk” from the eruption, namely, Agoncillo, Laurel, San Luis, Taal, Calaca, Calatagan and Lemery towns.
For his part, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said they will distribute 1,228 livelihood kits to affected individuals in Batangas through their Pangkabuhayan, Pagbangon at Ginhawa program (PPG).
He said DTI has applied with the Commission on Elections for an exempt for the program from the public works election ban, which took effect last week.
“We are continuing to validate and profile more beneficiaries,” Lopez said.