DOLE gives P22-M Tupad aid to 2.5K Abra, Apayao folks

TUPAD PAYOUT. Personnel from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)-Benguet distribute financial aid to residents in Baguio City on Aug. 18, 2023. The DOLE in Cordillera said they have so far given aid to 2,552 beneficiaries under the Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers in the provinces of Abra and Apayao. (PNA photo from DOLE-CAR FB)

By Liza Agoot

BAGUIO CITY – Some 2,651 residents in the provinces of Abra and Apayao affected by Super Typhoon Egay have received P22 million worth of assistance from the Department of Labor and Employment-Cordillera Administrative Region (DOLE-CAR).
    Nathaniel Lacambra, regional director of the DOLE-CAR, said in an interview on Tuesday that the amount came from their contingency fund.
    "We extended assistance to 2,400 families under the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged / Displaced Workers (TUPAD) assistance of the department in Abra, while there were 251 in Apayao aided through the same program,” said Lacambra, saying in Abra alone, 3,300 houses were damaged by Egay.
    “We have exhausted our contingency fund of PHP22 million but we were promised by our central office that they will immediately replenish the fund,” he added.
    Apart from the contingency fund, affected residents can also expect help from other agencies and through other DOLE-assistance programs, said Lacambra.
    He added that they have instructed other local government units in need of assistance to submit a request so that the DOLE-regional office could ask the central office for possible funding.

Aside from Abra and Apayao declaring a state of calamity due to the damage, Mountain Province, Benguet, Kalinga and Baguio City have also placed their areas under a state of calamity. (PNA)