Housing, loans, jobs being readied for victims of Yolanda

MANILA, Philippines - The International Labor Organization (ILO) is readying a multimillion dollar “cash-for-work” and emergency employment program for the estimated three million Filipino workers affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda.

 ILO director general Guy Ryder said the program is part of the $301-million relief appeal launched by the United Nations to help rebuild communities and livelihoods in areas devastated by Yolanda.

The ILO will focus on employment opportunities to help rebuild the community infrastructure, including local markets, roads, drainage and access paths and debris clearance.

“The programs will also create jobs and develop skills to facilitate the construction of emergency shelters, and extend social protection to those employed, including a minimum wage and health and accident insurance,” Ryder added.

The ILO would work with the Philippine government and the business sector in implementing the programs.

Ryder said the scale of destruction and sufferings caused by Yolanda to the people of Eastern Visayas was “truly shocking.”     

“The loss of life and the scale of the destruction are heart-breaking, and there are millions of people in desperate conditions,” Ryder said in a statement.

He added that based on initial estimates, about three million workers have lost their livelihoods either temporarily or permanently. Some of the displaced workers may not be able to return to their jobs due to the disaster and many of them are already living in vulnerable, precarious conditions with little or no social protection at all.

ILO said that about 44 percent of the affected workers are vulnerable laborers such as farmers, fishermen and informal economy operators.

Much of the livelihood infrastructure, such as farm-to-market roads, fishing boat landing sites and field irrigation, are also destroyed or blocked with debris and require urgent reconstruction or rehabilitation.

Nearly 400,000 are taking shelter in 1,316 evacuation centers throughout affected provinces in Central and Western Visayas and Palawan.

Ryder said at this time it is already clear that relief and reconstruction needs would be enormous with millions of people affected by the typhoon.

 â€œThe victims of the typhoon need food, water, shelter and basic healthcare and they also need to begin to rebuild their lives,” Ryder said as he urged the international community to be generous in their support for the Philippines. 

Foreign financial institutions have pledged assistance to the victims.

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) and J.P.Morgan Chase & Co. pledged combined assistance worth around P48 million in various foreign currencies.

The donation will help provide food, supplies and home-repair kits for 80,000 families in the provinces of Samar, Leyte and Cebu. The firm will also match employee contributions dollar-for-dollar, up to an additional $250,000.

State pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), on the other hand, said it would grant a six-month loan moratorium on all outstanding loans of its hardest-hit members to enable them to use the deferred payments for rebuilding their homes and other urgent needs.

In addition, GSIS members residing or working within the declared calamity areas may also apply for the P20,000 emergency loan in GSIS branch offices and through the GWAPS kiosks until Dec. 31,2013. GSIS will waive the requirement to pay 12 monthly amortizations before loan renewal for members with existing emergency loans.

For old-age pensioners in calamity-declared areas, GSIS is opening a new pension emergency loan window of P20,000 with terms similar to the eergency loan for active members.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), meanwhile, released P2 million for the emergency employment of displaced workers in Zamboanga who were affected by the recent siege in the city.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, who handed the P2-million check to the city government, said the money would initially fund the short-term employment measure for the workers displaced by the crisis.

The DOLE chief also said three more emergency employment batches would be implemented in January 2014 to ensure that displaced workers affected by the restructuring program of different companies due to the crisis would be assisted. As these developed, the Department of Budget and Management approved the early release of P16.05 billion for the year-end bonuses of about 1.209 million government employees. The funds, which were released yesterday, will allow government personnel to respond better to the direct and indirect victims of the Typhoon, DBM Secretary Florencio Abad said. The money released yesterday comprised the remaining half of the 13^th month pay and the P5,000 cash gift. The first half of the 13th month bonus was released last May.– With Roel Pareño