An approximate P3 billion was given to around 660,000 employees across the country as cash assistance from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) as the coronavirus lockdown temporarily shuttered business operations in some sectors, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said on Saturday.

Bello said cash distribution under the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) has finished with worker-beneficiaries receiving P5,000 cash assistance each.

He said the P3 billion was used for the cash aid, as distribution under the program was halted due to budget constraints.

“Now nabigyan na namin ang almost 660,000 formal employeers na P5,000 cash assistance. Ang nabayad namin diyan is P3 billion. Hanggang doon na lamang po ang aming pondo (Around 660,000 formal employers received P5,000 cash assistance and  we used P3 billion to fund that. But we will have to stop there.),” Bello said in the Laging Handa briefing on state-run television.

Bello said formal employees who did not get cash aid may apply for the “Small Business Subsidy Program” set by the Department of Finance.

The labor chief previously said an estimated 10 million workers could be left jobless by the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Bello said the cash aid for workers is on top of the social amelioration program for millions of poor families and support for migrant workers who lost their jobs abroad because of the pandemic./Stacy Ang