MANILA, PHILIPPINES — A total of 3,390 tourism workers in the province of Marinduque were approved to receive P5,000 each for a total payout of P16.95 million under the government’s cash aid program for workers displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat on Friday personally awarded 346 beneficiaries with the certificates of the Department of Tourism (DOT)–Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) cash assistance program.
She was joined by House Speaker Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco, Gov. Presbitero J. Velasco Jr., local mayors, and local tourism and labor officials.
The assistance is the second tranche of the Bayanihan 2 act, the government’s economic recovery program. It allocated a total of P3 billion in direct cash assistance to displaced workers in the country’s tourism industry, including those in the informal sector.
“The DOT will continue to do what it can to improve the state of this industry and make it stronger and more resilient to withstand further challenges and threats. We are here with you, and we are here for you,” she said.
The ceremony was held at the Provincial Capitol Park which was attended by 20 representatives of the 346 tourism workers.
For the MIMAROPA region, which consists of the provinces of Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan, the target number of beneficiaries is 67,600 with an allocation of P338 million.
Of the 66,127 approved applicants in the region, a total of 27,367 have received cash assistance amounting to P136.8 million. The rest are awaiting payout of a total of P193.8 million.
Tourism businesses are also covered by the Bayanihan 2 program with 51 applications already approved for the soft loans managed by the Small Business Corporation (SBCorp) of the Department of Trade and Industry.
These are interest-free, collateral-free loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). A total of P16 million has been released in the region under this soft loan facility.
