CLOSE to 159,000 tourism workers have already received benefits from the government’s cash-for-work program implemented by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in partnership with the Department of Tourism (DOT).
In his letter to Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said, “As of February 2, 2021, a total of 183,499 workers from 9,728 establishments, organizations and associations nationwide were approved beneficiaries of the program. The payment for 158,166 workers amounting to P790.83 million were remitted to payment centers.” Each beneficiary gets P5,000 in cash aid.
This is still far off, however, from the P3 billion allocated for financial aid to tourism workers under the Bayanihan 2 Act. A separate P100-million fund, also under Bayanihan 2, has been allotted for financial aid for tour guides.
(See, “Poor availment plagues tourism aid programs covered by Bayanihan 2,” in the BusinessMirror, January 13, 2021.)
The poor availment of cash aid by tourism beneficiaries has encouraged the DOLE and the DOT to amend their earlier joint memorandum circular on the Cash-For-Work Program for Displaced Workers in the Tourism Sector, and expand its coverage to include Tourism Support Service (TSS) enterprises, providers and associations of providers that have been licensed by their respective local government units (LGUs).
TSS providers include habal-habal drivers and island-hopping boat pilots, food vendors and fast-food workers, massage therapists, salon workers, golf caddies, among others, who work especially in focused tourism destinations like islands heavily dependent on tourism.
Secretaries Romulo Puyat and Bello signed on Tuesday DOT-DOLE Joint Memorandum Circular 2021-001, amending the guidelines for the cash-for-work program to expand the beneficiaries in the tourism sector.
“With this amendment, the Cash Assistance Program under Bayanihan 2 can benefit more displaced workers, especially those in the informal sector. We encourage our LGUs and tourism enterprises to extend assistance in the completion of documentary requirements for our affected tourism workers,” urged Romulo Puyat in a news statement.
Individual TSS providers only need to show a certified true copy of their LGU license or permit to apply for the cash aid.
Other beneficiaries of the financial aid program are displaced tourism workers in DOT-accredited primary tourism enterprises like hotels and resorts; DOT-accredited secondary tourism enterprises like restaurants; LGU-licensed but not DOT-accredited primary and secondary tourism enterprises; and members of registered community-based tourism organizations.
Unemployed tourism workers or those working part time or are still working from home but have been recipients of other government financial aid programs (e.g., Social Amelioration Program; Covid-19 Adjustment Measures Program; unemployment benefits from state-run pension funds starting April 1, 2020; and the Small Business Wage Subsidy Program starting April 1, 2020), are still entitled to tap the DOT-DOLE Bayanihan 2 financial aid program.
Target beneficiaries of the DOT-DOLE program may contact their respective DOT regional offices, the list of which may be found at https://tinyurl.com/3qoutwv8
During the lawmakers’ discussions on Bayanihan 2 last year, the DOT estimated some 4.8 million tourism workers were either jobless or only partially working because of Covid-imposed travel restrictions. As such, it calculated that some P80 billion in financial assistance was needed to jump-start the recovery of the tourism sector. About P10 billion in assistance was allocated for tourism workers under Bayanihan 2.