TOURISM workers in the Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon (Calabarzon) and Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan (Mimaropa) regions accounted for the largest of number of beneficiaries under the Department of Tourism-Department of Labor and Employment cash assistance program under the Bayanihan 2 Law.
This developed as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warned that the shift in automation would delay in the recovery of jobs in the country. The Covid-19 pandemic has also taken a toll on the tourism sector that it may be a while for it to get back on its feet.
In a news statement over the weekend to commemorate Labor Day, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat announced that some P2.4 billion in cash aid have been approved for release to 465,530 tourism workers nationwide. Under the Bayanihan 2 Law, some P3 billion have been allocated for direct financial aid to tourism workers, and P100 million for tour guides’ training.
Of the total beneficiaries, 39,429 are from National Capital Region (NCR); 26,908 from the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR); 45,709 from Region 1 (Ilocos); 17,293 from Region 2 (Cagayan Valley); 55,974 from Region 3 (Central Luzon); 61,392 from Region 4A (Calabarzon); 56,955 from Region 4B (Mimaropa); 11,468 from Region 5 (Bicol); 45,429 from Region 6 (Western Visayas); 31,712 from Region 7 (Central Visayas); 13,327 from Region 8 (Eastern Visayas); 6,609 from Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula); 13,939 from Region 10 (Northern Mindanao); 26,095 from Region 11 (Davao); 5,661 from Region 12 (Soccksargen); and 7,630 from Region 13 (Caraga).
About 4.8 million tourism workers have been affected by the Covid-19 travel restrictions.
Slow recovery: ADB
At the Task Group on Economic Recovery-National Employment Recovery Strategy (TGER-NERS) Job Summit on Saturday, ADB country director Kelly Bird said, “A slow recovery could lead to diminished productive capacity and lost jobs. Some sectors, like tourism may take time to recover. Businesses may shift to digital technologies, reshaping work, and the pandemic may accelerate the shift to automation. Consequently job seekers and unemployed workers may be out of work for longer periods and become less employable.”
He noted some 1.7 million wage and salary jobs in the private sector had been lost in the 12 months to January, “and we have seen informal employment numbers swell is hundreds of thousands as displaced workers moved to the informal sector, unemployment remains elevated at around eight percent of the labor force.”
ADB’s US3.5-billion lending program this year, said Bird, will support infrastructure projects “that will create tens of thousands of construction and related jobs in the Philippines. Estimates show that around $1 billion of infrastructure investments, create an additional $1.5 billion in gross domestic product.”
Among the infra projects ADB approved for implementation this year are the Malolos-Clark Railway project, Edsa Greenways project, South Commuter Railway project, Davao Modern Bus project, Metro Manila Bridges project, and the Palawan Sustainable Tourism project to be implemented through the DOT and Palawan local governments.
DOT-DOLE beneficiaries
“We are hopeful that this financial assistance will provide some relief to our most affected stakeholders and tourism workers during these difficult times,” said Romulo Puyat. “While it may help in the short term, we believe that the best way to help stakeholders, in the long run, is to develop a tourism industry that is stronger, more resilient, and more adaptable to change,” she stressed.
Of the total approved beneficiaries, 450,202 workers were from 15,982 establishments, organizations, and associations nationwide. Individual applications reached 15,328.
As of April 28, some P1.63 billion have been released to 325,678 workers via designated payment centers. Pending disbursement is about P699.3 million to 139,852 approved beneficiaries. Each beneficiary receives P5,000 in cash aid.
Relaxation of the definition of “tourism workers” to include habal-habal drivers, vendors, pilots of island-hopping boats, etc., enabled the DOLE to speed up the cash aid disbursement. Also, tourism workers who had been able to tap the DOLE’s cash aid program under Bayanihan 1, were allowed to apply under the DOT-DOLE Bayanihan 2 program.