ECQ displaced 2.3 million formal sector workers: DOLE

April 30, 2020

The number of formal sector workers displaced by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) has swollen to 2.3 million, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

In a statement , Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said "as of April 28, some 87,301 establishments reported that over 1.6 million of their workers were affected by temporary closures, while 797,729 were on alternative work arrangements due to the quarantine."

 DOLE thus realigned P1.5 billion from its 2020 budget to the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP).

Bello said this will allow DOLE to provide the one-time assistance of P5,000 to an additional 300,000 workers.

"With internally sourced funds, DOLE will now be able to assist a total of about 650,000 workers with P3.24 billion in total CAMP assistance," said Bello.

Last April 15, DOLE ended the CAMP after its P1.7 billion budget were  disbursed to 345,865 formal sector workers as beneficiaries.

CAMP is a one-time cash assistance program of DOLE to formal sector workers displaced by the imposition of the ECQ. DMS