The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) suspended last Wednesday the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program in the second district of Palawan amid reports of anomalies in its implementation.
Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III issued the order after getting reports that some of the beneficiaries of the program in Palawan suffered illegal deduction from their TUPAD payments.
“So it is just to prevent further loss [of TUPAD payment] to the beneficiaries,” Labor spokesperson Rolly Francia said in an online press briefing.
Citing initial reports on the incident, Francia said the beneficiaries were supposed to get P3,200 after working for 10 days of emergency employment under the TUPAD program.
However, the unscrupulous TUPAD coordinators supposedly deducted P2,000 from the payout of the said beneficiaries leaving only with P1,200.
“We will try to find ways to compensate them since these people really worked [for their TUPAD payments],” Francia said.
Francia said DOLE is now cooperating with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for the probe of the said incident.
He said Bello wants to hold accountable the people, who are responsible for the said illegal activity.
Last month, the labor chief also suspended of TUPAD implementation in Quezon City after some unscrupulous coordinators gave TUPAD payouts to unqualified beneficiaries.
Francia said DOLE is now in the process of filing charges against the people behind the said anomalous TUPAD implementation in Quezon City.
To prevent similar irregularities from happening in other areas, Bello reminded DOLE field officials to strictly comply with TUPAD guidelines, particularly in screening its coordinators.