Taga Ormoc Daily

NEWS RELEASE DOLE realigns budget to aid workers The labor department has realigned P1.5 billion of its 2020 budget in order to provide a one-time assistance of P5,000 to an additional 300,000 workers already processed under the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP). The realignment was ordered by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to enable DOLE to assist more formal sector workers displaced by the COVID pandemic, which has further ballooned to over 2.3 million. As of April 28, some 87,301 establishments reported that over 1.6 million of their workers were affected by temporary closures while 797,729 were on alternative work arrangements due to the quarantine being implemented to stop the spread of the virus. With internally sourced funds, DOLE will now be able to assist a total of about 650,000 workers with P3.24 billion in total CAMP assistance. This, however, will leave around 1,000,000 workers still unserved under the special amelioration program. The requests f

NEWS RELEASE Over 230k OFWs seek govt cash aid; 2m workers displaced by pandemic More than 230,000 overseas Filipino workers affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic are seeking cash assistance from the government, exceeding the set target of 150,000 beneficiaries for the P1.5 billion AKAP aid fund, the labor department reported on Sunday. It said a request for supplemental budget is being eyed to be able to provide more OFWs with the needed emergency assistance. At the same time, DOLE said locally displaced workers ballooned to over two million leading to an extended community quarantine to arrest the spread of the virus, while the number of displaced OFWs now nearing 100,000. Based on reports by the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) in 40 posts across the globe, a total of 89,436 OFWs were either displaced or on a no-work, no-pay status due to lockdowns and slowdown of businesses in host countries. As of April 24, the POLOs and the local offices of the Overseas Wo

#EarthquakePH #EarthquakeLeyte Earthquake Information No.1 Date and Time: 25 Apr 2020 - 01:18 PM Magnitude = 1.6 Depth = 005 kilometers Location = 11.13N, 124.50E - 009 km S 51° W of Kananga (Leyte) https://earthquake.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/2020_Earthquake_Information/April/2020_0425_0518_B1.html

GERMANY APPROVES 1st CLINICAL TRIAL OF COVID-19 Photo: Small bottles labeled with "Vaccine" stickers stand near a medical syringe in front of displayed "Coronavirus Covid-19" words in this illustration taken April 10, 2020. (Reuters Archive) Germany approves first clinical trial of Covid-19 vaccine Germany's vaccines regulator approved live human testing of a potential vaccine against the Covid-19 virus developed by German biotech company BioNTech, the regulator said in a statement. The trial, only the fourth worldwide of a preventive agent targeting the virus behind the global pandemic, will be conducted on 200 healthy people aged between 18 and 55 in the first stage, and on further people, including those at higher risk from the disease, in a second stage. BioNTech said it was developing the vaccine candidate, named BNT162, together with its partner, pharma giant Pfizer. Tests of the vaccine were also planned in the US, once regulatory approval for

PUBLIC ADVISORY April 22, 2020 SUSPENSION OF THE ACCEPTANCE OF DOLE-AKAP APPLICATION BY THE PHILIPPINE OVERSEAS LABOR OFFICES (POLOs) for Onsite OFWs The Department of Labor and Employment wishes to inform our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) that some of our Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) have already suspended the acceptance of DOLE-AKAP applications for on-site OFWs. Said POLOs had exceeded their respective allocations. The Department has a budget of P1.5 billion for AKAP OFW assistance sourced from the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP). With said limited budget, only 150,000 OFWs out of the million Filipinos overseas can be accommodated under the assistance program. We appeal to the public’s understanding as we try to find alternative ways to attend / cater to the needs of our OFWs affected by this pandemic. Maraming salamat po sa inyong pang-unawa! Keep safe, everyone! We heal as one. https://www.dole.gov.ph/news/suspension-of-the-acceptance-of-

#EarthquakePH #EarthquakeLeyte Earthquake Information No.1 Date and Time: 22 Apr 2020 - 08:49 AM Magnitude = 1.5 Depth = 001 kilometers Location = 11.10N, 124.46E - 005 km S 17° W of Matag-ob (Leyte) https://earthquake.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/2020_Earthquake_Information/April/2020_0422_0049_B1.html Ans also, series of earthquake were also felt in Capoocan and Southern Leyte.

NEWS RELEASE Fresh hopes to resuscitate aid The labor department is seeing the possibility of resuming its cash assistance to formal sector workers with fresh moves in Congress calling for the augmentation of funds for DOLE’s emergency subsidy program. “We are hopeful that some positive developments are coming along the way for our displaced workers,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said on Sunday. Bello cited efforts by lawmakers led by Senators Joel Villanueva and Christopher Bong Go to pump additional funding to the COVID Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) that provides a P5,000 one-time assistance to workers affected by the national emergency due to COVID-19. “We are grateful to Senators Villanueva and Go for their unwavering support in helping our workers tide over during this health crisis,” Bello said. DOLE last week announced it has stopped accepting requests for assistance under CAMP after having been swamped with volumes of applications quickly depleting its m

#EarthquakePH #EarthquakeLeyte #iFelt_LeyteEarthquake Earthquake Information No.1 Date and Time: 19 Apr 2020 - 07:34 AM Magnitude = 3.8 Depth = 001 kilometers Location = 11.31N, 124.55E - 010 km S 50° E of Leyte (Leyte) Instrumental Intensities: Intensity III - Ormoc City Intensity II - Naval, Biliran Intensity I - Borongan City https://earthquake.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/2020_Earthquake_Information/April/2020_0418_2334_B1F.html

READ| S T A T E M E N T Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) April 16, 2020 The Department of Labor and Employment announces with regret the suspension of acceptance of application for financial assistance under the Covid Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) for formal sector workers. Effective 5:00 pm of April 15, the online application has been closed. The labor department has been swamped with volumes of requests that the available fund for the program amounting to P1.6 billion is very close to being depleted. Since the implementation of CAMP from March 23 to date, DOLE was able to provide the one-time P5,000 assistance to 236,412 workers from 10,663 establishments, with total cash disbursements of Php1.2 billion. We have yet to pay 85,563 more workers in the coming days. We seek the full understanding of employers and workers who were unable to receive the assistance. The requests simply ballooned beyond the capacity of DOLE’s resources. The situation was aggravated