Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. Gg)

Introduced by CIBAC Party-List Representatives
Eduardo “Bro. Eddie” C. Villanueva and Domingo C. Rivera

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

The year 2020 rolled out with disrupting events unfolding in succession,
beginning with the Alert Level 4 in Iraq announced by the Department of
Foreign Affairs (DFA) on January 8, 2020 due to heightening of tension
between the United States and Iran in the Middle East. A few days after, on
January 12, 2020, Taal Voicano had phreatic eruption affecting thousands of
families and caused millions-worth of damages. Before the month ended, on
January 30, 2020, this was again followed by the first confirmed case of novel
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country, resulting in the imposition of
travel bans to and from China, Hongkong, and Macau, Taiwan, and to some
areas in South Korea.

In all these events, what stands out is the fact that these events have
widely affected the livelihood of Filipino workers and their families. More so
the vulnerable workers, such as the minimum wage eamers, the working poor
and the marginalized workers.


With respect to the situation in the Middie East, some of our OFWs
opted to take their chances in Iraq, rather than be repatriated because “they
and their families will starve to death here in the country.” On the other hand,
the Taal volcano phreatic eruption resulted in the stoppage of operations of
factories in the area, and the evacuation of hundreds of affected workers in
evacuation centers.

The dismal situation of these affected workers was even exacerbated
by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused local manufacturing operations to
slow down and the consequent adoption of temporary lay-offs, job rotations
and forced leaves in various companies, who are mostly dependent on
Chinese factories for electronics, wearables and automotive OEMs and other
raw materials.

Meanwhile, overseas Filipino workers in various parts of the country
chose to stay where they are, despite the rapid transmission of the virus, and
at the risk of contracting the virus, to continue to earn a living for their families.

With all these, the need for a permanent and institutionalized social
safety net for displaced workers and their families is given all the more
urgency and importance. Disasters, war, armed conflict, crises,
epidemics/outbreaks, pandemic, public health emergencies, and economic
shocks are triggers of hardship and displacement, not to mention 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.
Assistance to get them back on their feet with dignity, other than relief goods
and food at the evacuation centers, or bringing them home for free from
overseas without addressing income insecurity, has to be strengthened and
enhanced.

This bill seeks to institutionalize the Department of Labor and
Employment’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced
Workers (TUPAD) or the emergency employment program as a social safety
net program for the workers. It (i) authorizes the DOLE to motu proprio
implement employment projects in cases of massive displacements, (ii)
clarifies the covered worker-beneficiaries, which includes both formal and
informal workers affected by the triggers mentioned above, (iii) ensures the
payment of 100% of the prevailing minimum wage rate for non-agricultural
workers in the area of project implementation, and (iv) providing penalty for

2


acts such as getting commissions, job sharing, listing ghost beneficiaries,
padding, among others.

The immediate enactment of this bill is earnestly sought.
es Yili
HON. EDUARDO “BRO. EDDIE” C. VILLANUI

- RIVERA


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 6659

Introduced by CIBAC Party-List Representatives
Eduardo “Bro. Eddie” C. Villanueva and Domingo C. Rivera

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.”

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 4. Definition of Terms. — As used in this Act:

a)

°)

@)

e)

9)

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;

Beneficiary refers to individuals or group of individuals who are qualified
recipients of assistance under TUPAD;

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;

DOLE or Department refers to the Department of Labor and
Employment;

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;

Micro-insurance refers to a scheme that provides specific insurance and
similar products and services that meet the needs of the low-income


h)

m)

sector for risk protection and relief against distress, misfortune, and other
contingent events;

Self-employed refers to individuals who create their own earnings and
opportunities in the form of business, contract work whether overseas or
local, or freelance activities;

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;

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;

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.

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;

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.

Article I

Wage Employment Assistance Program
for Displaced and/or Vulnerable Workers or TUPAD Program

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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


aawne

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 15
of public facilities.

(b) Social community projects such as de-clogging of
canals, debris clearing/segregation and materials
recovery, stockpiling and clearing at the aftermath 45
of calamity or disaster.

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

(@) 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 90
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.

(©) 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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. Peoples’ 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;

Cooperatives;
iv. Church-based organizations;
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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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

9) 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.


SEC. 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 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 SUC, 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.

Article Ill
Miscellaneous Provisions

SEC. 16. Appropriations. — The funds for the initial implementation of this
Act shall be sourced from the current budget of the Department 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 5%.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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,