TUCP laud ILO for developing template on social protection response after Yolanda

By TUCP-NAGKAISA
November 6, 2015

QUEZON CITY – Workers’ lobby group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa) lauded the International Labour Organization (ILO) Manila country office for developing a replicable template on social protection coverage for calamity survivors out of its emergency employment and livelihood recovery projects among Yolanda-hit victims.

The ILO and foreign donors implemented in April 2014 a P36-million cash for work and livelihood program for 45,000 survivors of super typhoon Yolanda by mainstreaming them to the Social Security System (SSS) and the Philhealth benefits in giving them minimum wage in debris-clearing and reconstruction work.

“Though there is a need for SSS and Philhealth do away with stringent qualification requirements for disaster hit population, we commend the ILO and its multi-partite partner donors, agencies and unions for its trailblazing work in creating a template for an effective social protection response for people who fall through the cracks after being hit by disaster. This was proven good for workers and their families who exert effort to rebuild their lives after stricken by calamity,” said Gerard Seno, executive vice president of the Associated Labor Unions (ALU).

He added that this template can be replicated in the country or anywhere in the world whenever there would be similar calamities in the future.

However, TUCP-Nagkaisa spokesperson Alan Tajusay said the program could have benefitted more people had the SSS and Philhealth set aside stringent requirements for enrollees and made program readily accessible to hardest hit communities.

“A set of reforms have been recommended to the SSS and the Philhealth officials to simplify admission coverage on cash-for-work and livelihood program beneficiaries. We hope they make changes immediately because these are the only weak link to an effective social protection response,” Tanjusay said.