The Department of Labor and Employment will allow emergency employment to selected persons in the areas heavily affected by the October 10 doublet earthquakes, as the Davao Oriental reported as many as 70,142 families were affected in the province alone.
The DOLE said it will implement the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD) program for 5,450 beneficiaries, mostly in the most affected towns of Davao Oriental.
Of the allocated slots, 4,950 beneficiaries will come from Davao Oriental, while the remaining 500 beneficiaries will be distributed across Davao City, Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Occidental.
The program will mainly be done through emergency employment and to be concentrated in the Municipality of Manay, the hardest hit by the recent tremors.
Beneficiaries will engage in debris segregation, materials recovery, stockpiling, clearing operations, and waste management activities in affected areas, DOLE XI Regional Director Atty. Randolf C. Pensoy said.
The emergency employment program will run for ten days beginning Monday.
He said the TUPAD, will help workers rebuild their lives by providing temporary income. The DOLE is allocating P28,067,500. Only P2,575,000 will be distributed in other parts of the region.
The allocated amount is inclusive of micro-insurance coverage for all beneficiaries to ensure their safety and protection while performing rehabilitation-related tasks.
Tarragona town mayor, Art Benjie C. Bulaong told reporters on Monday that of the 70,142 families affected across the province, his town has 10,160 of them, or approximately 40,100 individuals. He said the scarce resource has accommodated only 2,252 families in the temporary evacuation camp at the municipal capitol grounds and some 7,000 others were scattered elsewhere.
His town is the next town south of Manay and next to the provincial capital of Mati City.
He said he cannot order the evacuees to return home until the ground tremors will stop ‘because these people are scared, they are traumatized.’ He said the evacuees could not use the provincial and municipal evacuation centers because they were placed under Code Red, a category that placed structures in danger.
He said even the municipal government was holding office in other places and open spaces because the municipal capitol building was placed under Code Yellow, which placed structures under limited use and should need further assessment to their integrity and safety.
Bulaong said the town’s disaster fund was supposed to be P7 million but said it has been depleted as the year is about to end. The town’s quick respond fund is only P3 million.
In Davao City, the city building officials has tagged the Code Red to Malayan (Mapua) Colleges Mindanao administrative and school buildings, the Velvet Suites and Hote/Oroderm City, the Toledo Building 3 of Magallanes Residences and the part of SM Annex building where the Teleperformance Davao outsourcing firm was holding office and operation center.
The Office of the City Building Official also tagged a Code Yellow to the three buildings of Felcris Centrale, the parking building of Gaisano Mall of Davao-Bajada, the Vivaldi Residences Davao and the Mesatierra Garden Residences.
The OCBO conducted the assessment of structures with the Davao City chapter of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers.