ORIENTATION. Ramezes Torres, a senior labor and employment official, tells disadvantaged workers from Pola, Oriental Mindoro on Wednesday (Oct. 11, 2023) what to expect from their 10-day job under the government's Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program. Some 2,637 workers from this municipality will be taking part in the program beginning Oct. 12, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Rhyme Torres)
POLA, Oriental Mindoro – Some 2,637 disadvantaged workers from this town will start short-term jobs on Thursday as part of a government initiative to supplement the incomes of struggling families here.
In an interview on Wednesday, Ramezes Torres, a senior labor and employment officer at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)-4B (Mimaropa), said the participating workers will be the latest beneficiaries of the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program.
The workers will be paid PHP355 per day, which is currently the minimum wage in Mimaropa, or PHP3,550 for the 10-day duration of the employment program, he added.
Torres said the worker-beneficiaries will be asked to perform “light jobs” that consist mostly of community work related to the beautification of their village.
“We conducted an orientation activity today (Wednesday) to brief them (worker-beneficiaries) on the nature of their work, their compensation as well as matters concerning their insurance. The workers taking part in this 10-day job program represent all 23 barangays of Pola town,” he said in Filipino.
Torres, who is also the TUPAD program’s focal person in the region, said the group starting the jobs on Thursday is mostly made up of men and women from the farmer and fisherfolk sectors.
He added some persons with disabilities (PWDs) were also hired.
The TUPAD program is DOLE’s flagship initiative that provides emergency employment to displaced workers affected by natural or man-made disasters, as well as those who are underemployed or unemployed.
Additionally, Torres said DOLE-4B has extended the implementation of the “Brigada Eskwela” initiative in Calapan City in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd).
He said the program effectively merges the DepEd’s Brigada Eskwela program and the DOLE’s TUPAD program to benefit some 870 Calapan residents who are in need of extra income.
The worker-beneficiaries were hired to help clean up and maintain 58 elementary and secondary public schools in Oriental Mindoro’s capital city from Oct. 14-31, Torres said.
Meanwhile, DOLE-4B Regional Director Naomi Lyn Abellana told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) that her office anticipates the release of the latest wage order mandating salary increases in Mimaropa by the last week of October.
She revealed that the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) Mimaropa conducted a hearing in Puerto Princesa on Wednesday to deliberate on how much wages should be increased in the five-province region.
“The wage hearing was conducted motu propio (on one’s own initiative) because no labor group filed a wage hike petition here (Mimaropa). We have scheduled a few more hearings in other provinces in the region, but the weather will determine if we can hold them on time. Our target is to come out with a new wage order before the end of the month (October),” Abellana said. (PNA)
