Republic of the Philippines
House of Representatives
Quezon Gity, Aletea Manila

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House Bill No. 7178

INTRODUCED BY
REP. ALFRED 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.


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.

‘RED VARGAS


Republic of the Philippines
House of Representatives
Quezon City, Ailotes Manila

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House Bill No. “278

INTRODUCED BY
REP. ALFRED 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 shall cover all displaced and/or
vulnerable workers affected by 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, 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;

(c) 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;

() 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;

() 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.

() 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

tights;

(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 conilict, 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

(@) Light works, such as street sweeping and cleaning of

public facilities ae
(b) Social community projects such as de-clogging of
canals, debris clearing/segregation and materials aa

recovery, stockpiling and clearing at the aftermath of
calamity or disaster.

(@) Social community projects such as minor repair and
maintenance of common public facilities such as schools 60
and health centers.

(4) Government projects requiring improvement of
government facilities and infrastructures such as health
centers, irrigation canals, roads, evacuation centers
school buildings, and the like.

(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.

90

() Agro-forestry and eco-agriculture farming which
include tree-planting, seedling preparation, re-forestation
and crop growing.

(@) 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;


() 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,