More and more workers are being affected by Alert Levels 3 and 4, which are now being implemented in almost 100 areas in the country.
They are eligible to be given P5,000 one-time cash assistance by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) COVID Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP).
Construction worker, Hadisin Jeynuddin, has only P20 left after he stopped working on January 15 because they allegedly needed to fumigate or disinfect their construction site to avoid COVID-19.
“Masakit talaga, sa totoo lang… Inaalala ko ngayon pamilya ko talaga, gusto ko lang sila na mabuhay nang tahimik pati higit sa lahat, makakain nang maayos,” he said.
He said he had no money to send to the family in Basilan.
Jeynuddin’s hope now is the help of DOLE. But the application is online, and his cellphone cannot be used on the internet.
This is also the problem of Jeynuddin’s co-workers, so they rushed to the DOLE-NCR office for help.
Workers struggle on online applying for DOLE assistance
According to the DOLE, the process was made online to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but they can help the construction workers.
DOLE has previously encouraged employers to apply for all employees because they already have the required documents, such as a temporary or permanent closure report and payroll or a list of paid workers.
An individual application is possible, but the worker will still be asked for a notice of termination, layoff, or a notarized affidavit explaining how they stopped working.
According to the National Federation of Labor Unions (NAFLU), this is a problem because many workers have problems with employers.
“May problema sila sa company so hindi ia-apply ng company ‘yung kanilang ayuda… Sa individual application mabigat ‘yung notarized affidavit kasi P200 ang pagpapanotaryo. Mabigat na ‘yon sa bulsa para sa manggagawang kumikita lang ng P500 a day. Tapos walang certificate of employment kasi wala nga silang kontrata eh,” said Laorence Castillo.
In the latest DOLE monitoring this Monday, up to 500 individual applications and 112 establishments with more than 1,000 workers have submitted online applications for CAMP.
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