
THE Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) should provide the beneficiaries of its employment aid program an avenue to upskill and improve their labor skill set through training programs, a congressman said on Monday.
The Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged or Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program is a safety net scheme that provides temporary employment to unemployed, underemployed, and seasonal workers.
“We can improve the value of the TUPAD program by providing our beneficiaries with opportunities to gain new knowledge that would give them a better chance at finding employment or starting small businesses,” Rizal Rep. Juan Fidel Felipe F. Nograles said in a statement.
“Beneficiaries can only avail of the program once a year, so we have to think about what comes after. If a training program is attached to the short-term work, we can double the value of this program,” he added in mixed English and Filipino.
The government allotted about P28 billion under the employment program for this year, but the National Expenditure Program proposed to cut its funding, earmarking just P14.9 billion for next year.
Mr. Nograles, who heads the House of Representatives labor panel, said DoLE should partner with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to come up with training modules to be used for his proposal. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio