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Senators are proposing more protection for the nation’s workforce as the government prepares to reopen some areas of the country and allow workers to return to their jobs after the blockade imposed to contain the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19 ).
In Malacañang, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Thursday that the government will present a recovery plan for the country’s labor sector on Friday, Labor Day, but did not provide details of the plan.
The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) also said Thursday that it had prepared a stimulus package to create 1 million new jobs in villages across the country by pushing the government’s public works program to hire workers within the locations of infrastructure projects.
In her “Balik Trabahong Ligtas” bill she introduced this week, Senator Risa Hontiveros said workers would get mandatory life and health insurance coverage against infectious diseases during a government-declared public health emergency and for a year afterward. to get up.
The proposed law aims to protect workers who become vulnerable to “infectious diseases and other dangers,” as they put themselves and their loved ones at risk when they head to work every day, he said.
“No one should be forced to choose between dying of an infectious disease or starvation,” said Hontiveros.
The measure covers all contractual, service contract, trial and work order employees who are asked to report to work outside their homes during a health emergency.
Life insurance
According to Senate Bill No. 1441, group life insurance provides a minimum of P1 million to the beneficiary if a worker dies from the infectious disease or the complications resulting from it.
Workers would be entitled to full payment of their medical bills if they become ill from the infectious disease, Hontiveros said. They will be presumed to have contracted the infection in the course of their work and will not be required to provide evidence of it, he added.
The measure orders Philippine Health Insurance Corp. to institutionalize a special program for the full payment of workers’ medical bills. Employers will assume insurance premium payments, which should not be deducted from workers’ wages. The law states that employers who would require workers to work outside their homes must provide them with personal protective equipment, depending on the nature of their jobs and the risks they face.
Marcos Proposal
“It is important that we establish these safeguards as we transition from a total blockade to the ‘new normal’ and strive to balance public health requirements and the needs of the economy and the workforce,” said Hontiveros. In a separate bill she previously presented, Senator Imee Marcos proposed a direct government wage subsidy equal to 75 percent of the actual payroll costs of affected companies in the most affected sectors.
Economic Recovery Package
Marcos’s proposal is part of Senate Bill No. 1431 to provide an economic recovery package for these companies.
According to her, it is estimated that 1 million micro, small and medium enterprises could not resume operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was very important to save them.
Your proposed wage subsidy would cost P63 billion a month. She said the government could pay for this, although she did not say how many months or years the subsidy would be awarded.
The bill establishes zero tariff rates for essential imported raw materials and suspends all deadlines for payments due within the enhanced community quarantine period.
Dole’s Goal
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III promised “new 1 million jobs” to displaced workers during the closure in the provinces.
He said the new jobs would be linked to projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which urged increasing its hiring for public infrastructure projects by at least 10 percent.
However, it was unclear whether the new jobs could contain the economic consequences of COVID-19, after Dole reported Sunday that more than 2 million lost jobs due to the temporary closure of businesses during the first five weeks of the enhanced community quarantine. . That figure would be updated and could still increase.
The P25 billion stimulus package, known as the Barangay Emergency Employment Program (BEEP), is aimed at creating jobs in the villages, Bello said.
Under the plan, DPWH contractors will be required to hire additional staff for existing projects. New hires could represent up to 20 percent of the current workforce for the project. They should reside in the community where a project was running. Bello said the plan was presented to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, which directs the government’s efforts against COVID-19.
Massive recruitment of nurses.
It would require persuading contractors to invest in labor rather than additional equipment, said former labor secretary Marianito Roque, who helped design the program.
Under BEEP, wage subsidies will be granted for a period of three months to micro and small companies in the provinces.
El Dole said it would also hire 5,000 new graduates and nurses who approved the board to carry out the government’s occupational safety and health program for the post-blockade environment. They will be assisted by 15,000 nursing assistants trained by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority who had lost their jobs abroad due to the pandemic. – WITH A REPORT FROM JULIE M. AURELIO
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