The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Friday released the payment to 445 workers in Leyte province engaged in 15-day emergency employment.

The DOLE regional office and the provincial government of Leyte led the distribution of PHP2.2 million in wages to the beneficiaries of the program in the towns of Palo, Tolosa, and Alangalang.

Each recipient got PHP4,875 as payment or a daily wage of PHP325.

DOLE Eastern Visayas regional director Henry John Jalbuena asked beneficiaries to spend their compensation wisely.

“Our appeal to the beneficiaries is for them to use the money that they received in a good way. Use this to provide the needs of your family,” Jalbuena said during the awarding at the DOLE regional office compound here.

The beneficiaries rendered their work in social community projects, such as repair, maintenance, and/or improvement of common public facilities and infrastructure such as schools and health centers, debris clearing, de-clogging of canals, debris segregation, and materials recovery, stockpiling, and clearing.

They were also engaged in economic community projects like repair, maintenance, and/or rehabilitation of farm-to-market roads, bridges, post-harvest facilities, public markets, and common service facilities such as production and display centers, fish ports, and agroforestry community projects, such as tree planting, seedling preparation, and reforestation.

Before deployment to their work, the beneficiaries undergo orientation on health and safety, and they are issued with shirts and hats and signed up for group micro-insurance.

The DOLE’s cash grant is under TUPAD or Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers, a community-based package of assistance that provides emergency employment for displaced workers, underemployed, and seasonal workers for a minimum period of 10 days, but not to exceed a maximum of 30 days depending on the nature of work to be performed. (PNA)