Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the release of a P50.8-billion wage subsidy for middle-income workers affected by the enhanced community quarantine enforced in Luzon, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said on Tuesday, April 14.
During the Inter-Agency Task Force meeting on Monday night, Duterte reportedly approved the Small Business Relief Program to help 3.4 million workers of 1.6 million small businesses, which have ceased to operate due to the efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19.
“Nagbigay na siya ng go dito (He already gave it go signal),” Nograles said.
Under the program, eligible workers will receive a one-time financial assistance worth P5,000 to P8,000, depending on the minimum daily wage rates in their respective regions.
To be eligible, however, an individual must be employed as of March 1 this year and have not received their pay for that month. Workers who are not qualified for the cash aid, meanwhile, include those who resigned or are on leave and employees who have availed of unemployment benefits.
Nograles said that the cash assistance will be given in two tranches, the first one scheduled between May 1 to May 15. The second one will be on May 16 to 30.
“This is our response to the appeal for help for middle-income workers… Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez estimates the program will cover 1.6 million small businesses that have ceased to operate due to the enhanced community quarantine or those who are on skeleton workforce in order to stay afloat. We estimate that 3.4 million workers will benefit from this program,” he said in Filipino.
The cash aid may be received through the SSS Unified Multi-Purpose ID (UMID) card enrolled as ATM cards, electronic wallets, or a cash pick up arrangement through remittance transfer companies.
