Looking after the socio-economic condition of workers who suffered heavily from the onslaught of floodwaters brought by Typhoon Pablo was a DOLE priority.

Hence, 220 workers from three organizations in the Davao region have benefitted from the Workers Income Augmentation Program (WINAP), the Department of Labor on Employment (DOLE) emergency employment intervention for workers victimized by crises or calamities.

Citing a report of DOLE Regional Office No. 11 Director Joffrey Suyao, Secretary Baldoz said the regional office is already expediting the canvassing of raw materials and equipment upon the completion and approval of the project proposals of the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Suyapa Farm-NAFLU-KMU; Freshmax Workers’ Union-FWU-NAFLU-KMU; and Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa San Jose-NAMASAN-NAFLU-KMU.

These were the first three workers’ groups that the DOLE had earlier awarded Certificates of Entitlement worth P250,000 each, or a total of P750,000 which shall be used for the purchase of raw materials and equipment for the livelihood projects of the three groups whose members all work in the banana export industry in Compostela Valley and were gravely affected by Typhoon Pablo.

“We will release the raw materials and equipment to the workers’ organizations before the end of the month,” Baldoz said.

Suyao said the implementation of the DOLE’s WINAP is part of the regional office’s project intervention dubbed Sectoral Approach in the Generation of Income Projects or SAGIP Manggagawa to prevent, if not minimize, imminent job losses and work displacement that arose due to the adverse effects of the recent calamity in the hardest-hit municipalities in Davao region, which includes Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley.

“The livelihood grant shall be used by the workers for their businesses as a source of alternative income. This is our way of helping them cope with their displacement from work as a result of the typhoon’s onslaught in the banana industry,” Director Suyao had earlier said.

The WINAP, also dubbed “Dagdag-Kabuhayan para sa mga Manggagawa,” assists organized and unorganized workers in the formal sector who opted to venture into businesses to earn additional income and gain employment for their family members.

End/KRS