The Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) started sending its technical staff and personnel last January 6, 2013 to help and assist in the implementation of the emergency employment and livelihood programs of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for the survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan in Region VIII, particularly in the provinces of Leyte and Samar.

Last November 2013, following the onslaught of Super Typhoon Yolanda, Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz immediately constituted a task force, headed by DOLE Undersecretary Rebecca Chato, and set up a 50 million-peso emergency employment package for the typhoon victims.

According to ILS Executive Director Cynthia R. Cruz, the staff of the Institute have so far helped the DOLE Region VIII Office in terms of assisting in cash payouts for workers under the Emergency Employment Assistance Program (EEAP), profiling temporary workers for enrolment in SSS and PhilHealth, meeting with industry and business leaders to discuss livelihood programs for the Ormoc sugar industry and visiting affected barangays whose residents could be included as beneficiaries under the DOLE’s livelihood project.

Further, Director Cruz said that the DOLE’s Task Force Yolanda mission provided an opportunity for ILS to identify areas for policy actions that would guide the government in formulating better and effective employment measures and responses, particularly in the post-disaster rehabilitation and restoration efforts.

“The deployment of ILS staff, alongside other personnel from different DOLE offices, bureaus and agencies, to the Department’s Region VIII office in Tacloban City offers an opportunity to help and serve the survivors and to observe the current efforts and initiatives on post-disaster rehabilitation, through employment and livelihood restoration.
We hope that the ILS researchers who were sent to Tacloban can translate their experiences into concrete policy research actions and recommendations for employment disaster resiliency contingency plans in the future,” she explained.

(For more information on this press release, you may contact Mr. Bryan M. Balco, Labor and Employment Officer III, of the Institute for Labor Studies at 527-3490).