BARMM helps pandemic-affected private labor sector
COTABATO CITY --- The Bangsamoro labor ministry is now distributing monetary assistance to workers in private entities displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic, now damaging the regional business climate.
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao covers Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, where economy in most municipalities have barely reeled off from devastations wrought by decades of armed conflicts.
Romeo Sema, labor minister of BARMM, said Saturday their intervention, meant to ease the plight of displaced private sector workers, is part of the COVID-19 containment measures of the Ministry of Labor and Employment, and the office of Bangsamoro Chief Minister Hadji Ahod Ebrahim.
“This CAP (COVID-19 Assistance Program) is practically a relief initiative for the private labor sector now feeling severely the brunt of the pandemic,” Sema said.
Sema said the first to receive from MOLE’s CAP project a P5,000 cash assistance each were 116 employees of the Sultan Kudarat Islamic Academy in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.
The BARMM labor ministry distributed the individual grants to the 116 beneficiaries on Thursday, according to Sema.
Ministry officials also released financial assistance Friday to 580 employees of the Lamsan, Inc., a cornstarch processing firm whose plant is also located in Sultan Kudarat town.
Sema said the MOLE will soon expand its CAP project to other BARMM provinces.