DOLE Region 2 readies P500k in livelihood assistance for displaced GV Florida Bus workers

Photo courtesy of GV Florida Bus Transport official Facebook page

Regional Director Sixto T. Rodriguez, Jr. of the DOLE Regional Office No. 2 yesterday reported to Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz that he and officials of the regional office had met with 33 bus drivers and conductors of the suspended bus transport company, GV Florida Bust Transport, to inform them of the DOLE’s readiness to assist them with their livelihood project.

“The meeting with the 33 bus drivers elicited a proposal that they would want to engage in vending, hence, we will provide them 50 Nego-Karts,” said Rodriguez in his report.

He was accompanied during the meeting at the company’s Tuguegarao City terminal by Leonita Arevalo, livelihood focal person of the DOLE Cagayan Field Office.

He said he had already published at the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) the fabrication of the 50 Nego-Karts as initial assistance to some of the bus transport workers.

“The 50 Nego-Karts will cost P500,000,” he said, adding:

“The DOLE Regional Office No. 2 intends to administer the livelihood project directly, so we can award it on 1 May, Labor Day.”

The GV Florida Bus Transport has about 700 drivers, conductors, mechanics, inspectors, utility workers, and other employees who were displaced as a result of the suspension of its operation by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board on 14 March 2014.

“The suspension means the workers will be displaced for around six months,” said Rodriguez in an earlier report.

Baldoz commended the DOLE Regional Office for continuously monitoring the situation at the company and keeping in touch and communicating with the workers and management.

A key goal of the DOLE, Baldoz said, is strengthened social protection to vulnerable workers, and the DOLE, as a strategy, enhances access to emergency employment and livelihood.

“Through convergence, the DOLE facilitates and provides access to emergency employment and livelihood opportunities to shield vulnerable workers and their families from risks due to natural and man-made disasters and enable them to rebuild their lives with better access to social protection and sustainable income sources,” she said.

Press release courtesy of the Department of Labor and Employment, 14 April 2014.