Republic of the Philippines 
House of Representatives 
Quezon City, Metro Manila 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
House Bill No. _______ 
INTRODUCED BY REP. PM VARGAS 
AN ACT 
PROVIDING FOR A WAGE EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 
FOR DISPLACED AND/OR VULNERABLE WORKERS 
INSTITUTIONALIZING FOR THE PURPOSE THE TULONG 
PANGHANAPBUHAY SA ATING DISADVANTAGE/DISPLACED 
WORKERS (TUPAD) PROGRAM OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 
AND EMPLOYMENT, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, 
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
With the announcement of the community quarantine in response 
to the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the country, some 
businesses and establishments had no choice but to limit work 
transactions both for employers and their employees. This signaled a 
disruption on economic activity and possible loss of jobs for a number of 
Filipinos in the labor sector. Without a source of livelihood, Filipino 
workers and their families become more vulnerable not only to the health 
risks of the coronavirus but also of poverty. Social and economic safety 
nets need to be put in place to protect the ailing public. 
A viable solution is the augmentation of the Tulong Panghanapbuhay 
sa Ating Disadvantaged/ Displaced Workers (TUPAD) Program of the 
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). TUPAD is a community-based 
package of assistance that provides emergency employment for displaced 
workers, underemployed and seasonal workers, for a minimum period of 10 
days, but not to exceed a maximum of 30 days, depending on the nature of 
work to be performed. 
July 11, 2022
8:00 am
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With some finetuning, the DOLE may be authorized to motu proprio 
implement employment projects in cases of massive displacements; clarify the 
covered beneficiaries of workers for both formal and informal employment as 
affected by the gravity of public emergencies; ensure the just compensation 
of the prevailing minimum wage rate for non-agricultural workers in areas of 
implementation; and, provide penalties for such illegal acts. These provisions 
are to be included in a measure that upholds and protects the Filipino workers 
in these trying times. 
 
This bill seeks to institutionalize the Department of Labor and 
Employment’s 
Tulong 
Panghanapbuhay 
sa 
Ating 
Disadvantaged/ 
Displaced Workers (TUPAD) Program or the emergency employment 
program as a social safety net for our workers. 
 
In view of the foregoing, the immediate passage of this bill is 
earnestly sought. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
REP. PM VARGAS   
 
Fifth District, Quezon City 
 
 
 
 


Republic of the Philippines 
House of Representatives 
Quezon City, Metro Manila 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
House Bill No. _______ 
INTRODUCED BY REP. PM VARGAS 
AN ACT 
PROVIDING FOR A WAGE EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 
FOR DISPLACED AND/OR VULNERABLE WORKERS 
INSTITUTIONALIZING FOR THE PURPOSE THE TULONG 
PANGHANAPBUHAY SA ATING DISADVANTAGE/DISPLACED 
WORKERS (TUPAD) PROGRAM OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 
AND EMPLOYMENT, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, 
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. – This Act shall be known as the “TUPAD Act.” 
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policies. – The State shall promote a just and 
dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity and independence of the 
nation and free the people from poverty through policies that provide adequate 
social services, promote full employment, a rising standard of living, and an 
improved quality of life for all. 
It shall improve the quality of life of all Filipino workers through active labor 
market policies promoting and facilitating employment generation, human 
resource development and by providing displaced and/or vulnerable workers 
a social safety net from the effects of disasters, epidemics/outbreaks, 
pandemics, public health emergencies, war, armed conflict, crises, economic 
shocks or income loss brought about by ill-health, disability, work-related 
injury, unemployment, work displacements, and other related contingencies. 
SECTION 3. Coverage. – This Act shal1 cover al1 displaced and/or 
vulnerable workers affected by disasters, epidemics/outbreaks, pandemics, 
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public health emergencies war armed conflict, crises, economic shocks or 
income loss brought about by ill health, disability, work-related accidents or 
injuries, unemployment, work displacements due to business closure, 
retrenchment, rightsizing, redundancy technological advances, and other 
analogous causes. 
 
SECTION 4. Definition of Terms. – As used in this Act: 
 
(a) Accredited Co-Partner refers to the program partner, which may be a 
peoples’ or workers organization, union, association, federation, 
cooperative, 
business 
association, 
church-based 
organization, 
educational institution, or private foundation, that has been accredited 
by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to implement 
TUPAD programs and projects using government or public funds; 
 
(b) Beneficiary refers to individuals or group of individuals who are 
qualified recipients of assistance under TUPAD; 
 
(c) Disaster refers to a serious disruption of the functioning of a 
community or a society involving widespread human, material, 
economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the 
ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own 
resources, as defined in Republic Act No. 10121 otherwise known as 
the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010; 
 
(d) DOLE hereby referred to as the ‘Department’ refers to the Department 
of Labor and Employment; 
 
(e) Displaced workers refer to workers in the formal and informal economy 
or self-employed, whether overseas or local, who became unemployed, 
underemployed, or have lost their livelihood due to disasters, 
epidemics/outbreaks, pandemics, public health emergencies, war, 
armed conflict, crises, economic shocks, or income loss brought about 
by ill-health, disability, work-related accidents or injuries, business 
closure, 
retrenchment, 
rightsizing, 
redundancy, 
technological 
advances, and other analogous adverse events as may be determined 
by the DOLE; 
 
(f) Massive displacement refers to large-scale displacement of workers in 
the formal and informal sectors brought about by disasters, 
epidemics/outbreaks, pandemics, public health emergencies, war, 
armed conflict crises, or economic shocks, among others, resulting in 
serious disruption of means of livelihood; 


 
(g) Micro-insurance refers to a scheme that provides specific insurance 
and similar products and services that meet the needs of the low-
income sector for risk protection and relief against distress, misfortune, 
and other contingent events; 
 
(h) Self-employed refers to individuals who create their own earnings and 
opportunities m the form of business, contract work whether overseas 
or local or freelance activities; 
 
(i) Sub-professionals refer to individuals who hold first level position 
under the Revised Administrative Code of 1987, which includes the 
clerical, trades, crafts and custodial service positions requiring less 
than four (4) years of collegiate studies; 
 
(j) TESDA refers to the Technical Education and Skills Development 
Authority; 
 
(k) TUPAD Program is a safety net wage employment assistance program 
for displaced and/or vulnerable workers also known as the Tulong 
Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers Program 
and herein interchangeably referred to as TUPAD or Program. 
 
(l) Underemployed workers refer to employed persons who express the 
desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or an 
additional job, or have a new job with longer working hours; 
 
(m) Vulnerable workers refer to minimum wage earners, working poor, or 
marginalized workers, as defined below, whether in an employer-
employee relationship in the public or private sector, or self-employed 
including the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), and whose families 
depend solely on their wages or compensation income for their minimum 
basic needs, such as food, health, education, housing and other essential 
amenities of life. 
i. 
Minimum wage earners refer to workers in the private sector 
who are paid the statutory minimum wage, or to employees in the 
public sector with compensation income of not more than the 
statutory minimum wage in the non-agricultural sector where 
he/she is assigned as defined under Republic Act No. 10963 
otherwise known as the TRAIN law; 
ii. 
Working poor refers to individuals and/or groups whose income 
fall below the poverty threshold as defined by the National 
Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and/or cannot 


afford in a sustained manner to provide their minimum basic 
needs of food, health, education housing and other essential 
amenities of life; 
iii. 
Marginalized workers refer to workers who have not benefitted 
from education, health, employment, and other opportunities by 
reasons of poverty, geographical inaccessibility, culture, gender, 
among others, and to workers who are less likely to have formal 
work arrangements, and are more likely to lack decent working 
conditions, adequate social security, and whose employment is 
characterized by inadequate earnings, low productivity, and 
difficult conditions of work that undermine their fundamental 
rights; 
 
(n) Wage employment refers to the act of generating one’s income from an 
employer-employee relationship 
 
SECTION 5. Wage Employment Assistance Program for Displaced and/or 
Vulnerable Workers or TUPAD Program. – The TUPAD Program is a social 
safety net designed to assist displaced and/or vulnerable workers and their 
families, and get them back on their feet by providing them wage employment 
if they fall on hard times due to disasters, epidemics, war, armed conflict, 
crises, economic shocks or income loss brought about by ill-health, disability, 
work-related accidents or injuries, unemployment, work displacements due 
to business closure, retrenchment, rightsizing, redundancy, technological 
advances, and other analogous causes. For this purpose, the TUPAD Program 
being implemented by the DOLE providing emergency employment for 
displaced or disadvantaged workers is hereby institutionalized. 
 
SECTION 6. Lead Agency and Convergence with Related Government 
Assistance Program. – The Department shall be the lead agency in the 
implementation of the TUPAD Program and shall proactively administer 
directly, motu proprio, wage employment projects, in coordination or 
collaboration with relevant government agencies, in the event of massive 
displacement of workers resulting in serious disruption of means of livelihood. 
 
The Department shall be responsible in the administration, sourcing, 
assessment and approval of all project proposals for appropriate funding 
using TUPAD funds. It shall integrate and collaborate with other government 
agencies, business and labor groups, and civil society groups in implementing 
similar or related programs and services for efficient and effective whole-of-
nation approach in the delivery of social safety nets. 
 


SECTION 7. Eligible Projects for TUPAD; No Counterpart Funding 
Requirement. – All employment projects, to be eligible for funding under 
TUPAD, shall be under any of the listed eligible projects below. The 
Department shall set the period of work of approved employment project 
depending on the nature and duration of the work to be performed, but in no 
case shall the project duration be less than ten (10) days, nor to exceed ninety 
(90) days, as provided herein: 
 
Eligible Projects 
Maximum No. 
of Work Days 
(a) Light works, such as street sweeping and cleaning of 
public facilities 
15 
(b) Social community projects such as de-clogging of 
canals, debris clearing/segregation and materials 
recovery, stockpiling and clearing at the aftermath of 
calamity or disaster. 
45 
(c) Social community projects such as minor repair and 
maintenance of common public facilities such as schools 
and health centers. 
60 
(d) Government projects requiring improvement of 
government facilities and infrastructures such as health 
centers, irrigation canals, roads, evacuation centers 
school buildings, and the like. 
90 
(e) Economic community projects such as maintenance 
and/or rehabilitation of farm-to-market roads, bridges, 
post-harvest facilities, public markets, and common 
public facilities such as production and display centers 
fish ports, etc. 
(f) Agro-forestry and eco-agriculture farming which 
include 
tree-planting, 
seedling 
preparation, 
re-
forestation and crop growing. 
(g) Field works, such as conduct of survey and profiling, 
in partnership with other government offices. 
 
No counterpart funding shall be required in the implementation of the project 
from the Local Government Units (LGUs) or any of DOLE’S accredited program 
partners. However, they shall provide technical assistance, which could be in 
the form of identification of projects, profiling of beneficiaries, procurement, 
monitoring, and facilitating access of services from other agencies. 
 
 
TUPAD projects involving 46-90 days period of work shall be implemented in 
partnership and/or complementation with agencies implementing public 


projects, such as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the 
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Local 
Government Units, as well as private sector entities willing to engage in public 
projects. Said offices/program partners shall provide the required materials, 
tools, and equipment including office equipment, as warranted by the nature 
of work. 
 
SECTION 8. Qualified Beneficiaries. – All displaced workers and/or 
vulnerable workers are qualified beneficiaries under this Act; Provided, that 
the Secretary of Labor, may, in proper instances, also approve programs 
under the TUPAD Program that will include the underemployed, including 
sub-professionals involved in structured work in support of office operations 
or those engaged in arts crafts manual and clerical work, as beneficiaries 
under this Act. 
 
The Secretary of DOLE shall set standards on the TUPAD beneficiaries, 
including the allowable number of beneficiaries per household, and the 
number of projects under the Program a qualified beneficiary may participate 
in, and such other relevant matters for the effective implementation of this 
Act, with a view to helping the most number of beneficiaries. 
 
SECTION 9. Modes of Implementation of the TUPAD Program. – The 
TUPAD Program shall be implemented by the DOLE Regional Offices through 
any of the following modes: 
 
(a) Accredited Co-Partner (ACP). Under this mode, the ACP shall be the 
Department’s partner or conduit in the implementation of the program, 
provided they are registered with any registering body of the 
government and accredited by DOLE as ACP under the TUPAD 
Program. The following shall qualify as ACP: 
 
i. 
People’s organization; 
ii. 
Private sector unions, federations or workers’ associations, as 
defined in Book V of the Omnibus Rules and Regulations 
Implementing the Labor Code of the Philippines; 
iii. 
Cooperatives; 
iv. 
Church-based organization; 
v. 
Private educational institutions; 
vi. 
Private foundations; and 
vii. 
Government agencies and instrumentalities, including National 
Government Agencies, Local Government Units, and Government 
Owned and Controlled Corporations; 
 


(b) Direct 
Administration. 
Under 
this, 
the 
administration 
and 
implementation of the TUPAD Program shall be undertaken directly by 
the Department’s regional provincial and/or field offices. 
 
SECTION 10. Accreditation of Co-Partners (ACP). – DOLE shall accredit the 
co-partners in the implementation of the TUPAD Program, and for this 
purpose shall set the guidelines for the accreditation process. 
 
Government agencies, including local government units (LGUs) and state 
university and colleges (SUCs), shall automatically be TUPAD program 
partners, without need of accreditation, upon execution of a TUPAD 
Partnership Memorandum of Agreement clearly outlining the responsibilities 
and deliverables of each party under the program. 
 
SECTION 11. Employment Project Implementation Requirements. – All 
programs under the TUPAD Program shall observe the following: 
 
(a) Strict compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Standards 
provided under Republic Act No. 11058 and other related laws and 
regulations; 
 
(b) Provision of necessary equipment for beneficiaries needed to effectively 
and safely participate in a project under the Program; 
 
(c) Enrollment of every beneficiary to a group micro-insurance to be 
included in the total project cost; 
 
(d) Issuance of an identification card or document for every beneficiary 
participating in a project under the Program; 
 
(e) Assistance to beneficiaries who have participated in the Program of 
skills training or upgrading towards self-employment or wage 
employment. For this purpose, the Department and TESDA shall 
ensure the implementation and enforcement of this provision; 
 
(f) Mechanisms to ensure that the Department and/or its accredited co-
partners monitor the implementation of every employment project 
under the TUPAD Program; and 
 
(g) Submission of proper documentary requirements for the release and 
liquidation of funds for every employment project under the TUPAD 
Program subject to relevant accounting and auditing rules and 
regulations. 


 
SECTION 12. Wages and Compensation of Beneficiaries; Prohibited 
Practices. – The wages and compensation of the beneficiaries shall not be 
less than 100% of the prevailing private sector minimum wage rate set by the 
Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) for non-
agricultural workers in the area or locality where the project will be 
implemented. 
 
To ensure compliance with this provision, the Department shall establish 
mechanisms for strict implementation providing safeguards and a listing of 
prohibited activities such as cuts for commission, job sharing, ghost 
beneficiaries, and padding of beneficiaries, among others. 
 
Any violation of this provision shall result in the blacklisting of the accredited 
co- partner, including the payment of the amount involved, with legal interest, 
without prejudice to the filing of criminal cases. If the accredited co-partner 
is an LGU or sue, the LGU or SUC shall be immediately address such 
deficiency and/or error Without prejudice to applicable rules and regulations 
of the Commission on Audit and the filing civil, criminal or administration 
actions. In case of direct administration, the responsible DOLE personnel 
shall be subjected to administrative investigation without prejudice to the 
filing of appropriate civil or criminal case. 
 
SECTION 13. Project Funding. – Approved employment project proposals 
shall be funded under the TUPAD Program fund under the budget of the 
DOLE. The Department shall be primarily responsible for managing the funds 
for the implementation of the Program. 
 
SECTION 13. National Digital Transformation Council. – The National 
Digital Transformation Council is hereby created to ensure the effective 
implementation of this Act. 
 
SECTION 14. Authority to Receive and Administer Donations for TUPAD 
Program. – The Department is hereby authorized under this Act to receive 
donations from government and non-government organizations and to 
administer the same strictly and exclusively for the beneficiaries and qualified 
applicants of the TUPAD Program, subject to relevant accounting and auditing 
rules and regulations. 
 
SECTION 15. Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation of the TUPAD 
Program. – The Department shall establish a standardized monitoring and 
reporting system to properly document every approved project under the 
Program.  


 
It shall also submit to Congress and make available to the public, an annual 
accomplishment report and utilization of the funds earmarked for the 
implementation of the TUPAD Program. The annual report shall include the 
pertinent details of every project under the Program, the mode of 
implementation, number of beneficiaries, donations from private and other 
organizations, 
expenditures, 
number 
of 
beneficiaries 
who 
acquired 
employment after their participation in the Program, and other pertinent 
information as may be necessary. An impact evaluation shall be conducted 
from time to time, but not later than every three years. 
 
SECTION 16. Appropriations. – The funds for the initial implementation of 
this Act shall be sourced from the current budget of the Department of Labor 
and Employment for the implementation of the TUPAD Program. Thereafter, 
the amount necessary for its continued implementation shall be included in 
the annual General Appropriations Act; provided, that such appropriation 
shall take into consideration an administration fee of not more than five 
percent (5%). 
 
SECTION 17. Implementing Rules and Regulations. – Within ninety (90) 
days from the effectivity of this Act, DOLE shall, in consultation with TESDA, 
Department of Trade and Industry, and other relevant government agencies 
and stakeholders, issue the necessary rules and regulations for the effective 
implementation of this Act. 
 
SECTION 18. Separability Clause. – Any portion or provision of this Act that 
is declared unconstitutional or invalid shall not have the effect of nullifying 
other portions or provisions hereof as long as such remaining portions can 
still subsist and be given effect in their entirety. 
 
SECTION 19. Repealing Clause. – All laws, ordinances, rules, regulations, 
other issuances or parts thereof, which are inconsistent with this Act, are 
hereby repealed or modified accordingly. Nothing in this Act shall result in 
the diminution of the benefits and/or assistance given to overseas Filipinos 
and migrant workers as provided in other laws, ordinances, rules, regulations 
and issuances. 
 
SECTION 20. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after 
its publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general 
circulation. 
 
Approved,