Maasin City (29 March) --- In an effort to address the effects of global economic condition and worsening unemployment problem particularly in the province, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Southern Leyte Provincial Office here awarded its Tulong Pangkabuhayan Sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD) program to the municipality of Malitbog.

The DOLE Southern Leyte headed by Ms. Norma Fe Valuis, who is also the Chief Labor and Employment Officer in Region 8 released in the amount of P300,000.00 for the implementation of TUPAD program while the municipal government will shoulder the fifty percent of the cost of PhilHealth premium.

Some 75 unemployed poor residents coming from the Barangays of Sta. Cruz and Cadaruhan Sur, San Vicente, Sabang in Sitio Gotos and Candatag, all of Malitbog are the beneficiaries of the short-term wage employment with the financial counterpart of the local government in the amount of P60,000.

The program also requires for the LGU to shoulder the SSS premiums of the beneficiaries for the period of one month and identify the beneficiaries in their community with LGU projects.

It was learned that DOLE Regional Office in Tacloban City has already released the amount P2,825,840.00 to TUPAD beneficiaries in Eastern Visayas region.

Presidente Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo initiated for the availability of employment opportunities for the poor and the less fortunate Filipinos in the midst of the global economic meltdown and ensured its implementation thru the Economic Resiliency Plan.