MANILA, Philippines — Senator Joel Villanueva has called on the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to replenish funds for the government’s emergency employment programs amid the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) placed over Luzon and other parts of the country. “Our Bayanihan Law states that DOLE [Department of Labor and Employment] programs will be prioritized for budget augmentation, but it has only received about 16% of their total proposed funding requirement. We hope that our DBM augment the coffers of DOLE so it could continue its emergency employment programs,” the lawmaker said Saturday in a statement. ADVERTISEMENTThe emergency employment programs cater to displaced workers in the formal and informal sectors, as well as overseas Filipino workers (OFW), who are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have confidence in our economic team that it would be able to find a way to replenish the coffers of the labor department,” the senator said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer April 18, 2020 07:07 UTC