Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 22) — Cordillera Administrative Region tourism authorities said they have approved the application of 10,555 displaced tourism workers for the government’s ₱5,000 cash assistance.
The Department of Tourism said this is part of the 27,000 qualified beneficiaries it has endorsed to benefit from the one-time assistance under the DOT’s joint memorandum with the Department of Labor funded by the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act.
“I commend the City of Baguio, the Province of Benguet, and the entire Cordillera Administrative Region for proactively responding to the call to make the Bayanihan Act 2 cash assistance program accessible to the displaced tourism workers in your area,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said in a statement on Tuesday.
Recipients came from the sectors like creative arts and crafts, events and entertainment, accommodation, travel and tour agencies, tourism training center, and community-based tourism organizations.
The DOT-CAR said 932 tourism enterprises, with 26,972 beneficiaries, were endorsed for the program, and the remaining 16,417 applications are still being processed.
About ₱134.86 million will be disbursed after these are approved, the agency noted.
Signed on Oct. 30, Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2020-001 outlines the guidelines for providing monetary assistance and cash-for-work program for displaced workers in the tourism sector, which is one of the hardest hit by the imposed lockdowns due to the global health crisis.
Under this, workers like DOT-accredited and local government unit -licensed tour guides, employees of DOT-accredited primary tourism enterprises, and employees of DOT-accredited secondary tourism enterprises, to name a few, will benefit from the program.
This was later expanded to include beneficiaries like those affected by the shift to flexible working arrangements, and LGU-licensed secondary tourism businesses.
