Yesterday, when Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz paid a visit to Zambonga City and awarded Mayor Maria Isabelle "Beng" Climaco three checks of P499,800 each, and two more worth P468,498.42 and P31,301.58, respectively, the amiable city chief executive expressed profuse thanks, telling her the visit is most timely as the City is now undergoing recovery and rehabilitation stage.

Mayor Climaco also said that the total amount of P1,999,200.00 will go a long way in alleviating the plight of her constituents caught in the disastrous armed conflict between remnants of the Moro National Liberation Front and the Philippine security forces in September.

"I am very thankful to the DOLE for this assistance and for its programs in the city. When I assumed as chief executive of the City of Zamboanga in 2010, the DOLE was one of the first national government agencies that offered support to our people through its programs, particularly the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES)," Mayor Climaco said to Baldoz during their meeting at the Zamboanga City Hall.

Baldoz told the mayor that the P1,999,200.00 represents the DOLE's bottom-up budget (BUB) for emergency employment of victims of the conflict.

"The amount is the last tranche of the P5 million in BUB funds which we have allocated for Zamboanga City for the implementation of its Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program for Displaced Workers," said Baldoz, who was accompanied in Zamboanga City by Undersecretary for Social Protection Ciriaco Lagunzad III, DOLE Regional Office No. 9 Director Sisinio Cano, Director Ahmma Charisma Lobrin-Satumba of the Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns (BWSC), Regional Director Lorenzo Macapili of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in Region 9, Labor Attaches Nasser Mustafa and Adam Musa, and DOLE Zamboanga City Coordinator Ian Lahi.

The amount of P1.9 million represents the salaries and wages of 240 displaced workers to be hired by the city government and the DOLE under the emergency employment program. They will be paid a minimum wage of P280 per day for 30 days to do repair work on government facilities, such as school buildings, health clinics, and barangay halls. They will be tasked also to help in food preparation and cleaning maintenance in evacuation centers.

"We are happy to be of help to the victims of the conflict. To promote transparency, all beneficiaries of DOLE programs, such as the emergency employment, are carefully selected using the National Household Targeting System of the government and their names and address uploaded in the DOLE website," said Baldoz.

She recalled to Mayor Climaco that on 29 May this year, the DOLE regional office has released P989,240.00, the first tranche of the P5 million BUB funding for emergency employment, for 106 workers displaced in the fishing and fish canning industry.

The DOLE's emergency employment program respond to Item No. 8 in the President's Social Contract with the Filipino People which calls for veering away "from government anti-poverty programs that instill a dole-out mentality to well-considered programs that build capacity and create opportunities among the poor and the marginalized".

These programs also respond to the Social Protection Chapter of the Labor and Employment Plan 2011-2016 which spells out the strategy of strengthening the community-based employment program, particularly the emergency employment component to create jobs that provide income to vulnerable workers and their families.