The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is pushing for the passage of Bayanihan 3 so it could provide more aid for workers affected by the pandemic.
Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said they hope the bill will finance their interventions for Covid-affected workers including their proposed wage subsidy program.
He noted based on initial feed back from the House of Representatives and the Senate, lawmakers support the passage of bill.
“Our only problem is where the fund [for Bayanihan 3] will come from,” Bello said in an online briefing last Wednesday.
Initially, DOLE requested P60 billions for wage subsidy program, but proposal was later reduced to just P24 billion.
DOLE disbursed P22.93 billion from the Bayanihan to Heal as One (Bayanihan 1) and Bayanihan to Recover as One (Bayanihan 2) to assist to help 14.13 million workers.
The wage subsidy program is one of the main proposals of DOLE under the pending National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) to help job preservation during the pandemic.
DOLE has conducted several stakeholder consultations to finalize the provisions of NERS.
Bello said President Rodrigo R. Duterte is expected to come out with an Executive Order on Saturday that will “institutionalize” NERs.