The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said authorities are now investigating possible cases of fraud among the thousands of applications it received for its Boracay Emergency Employment Program-Adjustment Measures Program (Beep-Amp).
DOLE’s Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) Director Dominique R. Tutay told the BusinessMirror they launched the probe after the number of applicants for the program suddenly doubled last month.
“The matter has been brought to the attention of the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] and the PNP [Philippine National Police], who are conducting their own investigation,” Tutay said.
To recall, the DOLE allocated P448 million for the Beep-Amp to provide cash aid to the 17,735 profiled workers from the formal sector, who were affected by the temporary closure of Boracay Island on April 26. The government closed the island resort to give way for its rehabilitation.
On August 23, 2017, the DOLE Region 6 reported it still has enough fund to accommodate 4,000 of the said workers.
As of Friday, the available slots were reduced to 616 since 17,119 of the profiled workers were already given cash aid by the DOLE through the BEEP-AMP.
However, the DOLE Region 6 said it still got 14,234 additional applications for the program last month.
“Because of the sudden surge in applications sometime September, the region [DOLE Region 6] is thoroughly evaluating the applications as there are reports of fraud already or misrepresentations,” Tutay said.
As an added precautionary measure, the DOLE issued an advisory halting the acceptance of applications from workers, “who are not included in the database of profiled affected formal sector workers,” for the BEEP-AMP.
“As the number of BEEP-AMP applications exceeded the fund allocation for the program, priority shall be given to those who were profiled and verified,” Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said in Department Advisory 3, Series of 2018.
Boracay’s reopening is scheduled for October 26 to a limited number of people to prevent further degradation of the tourist hot spot.