The financial aid given by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is for all workers hardest hit by the pandemic, including members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) community.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the government has no discrimination in extending assistance to needy workers through DOLE’s key aid programs, including its flagship Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD).

Speaking during a payout ceremony in Siniloan, Laguna, Bello said “TUPAD is for all workers, so one will get the financial assistance whether he or she belongs to LGBTQ or not.”

TUPAD is the cash-for-work program of the government to help informal workers cope with the adverse effects of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Bello went to the locality recently to continue the roll-out of DOLE’s various Covid-19 response programs amid the lingering pandemic that still poses threat to livelihood and employment.

“The government is here to help. We are going around the country to provide relief to our needy workers,” he added.

Bello led the distribution of salaries amounting to P4.076 million to 1,019 beneficiaries in Siniloan. He also awarded P1 million in DOLE livelihood assistance to four baranggays of the municipality.

Local officials led by Mayor Rainier Acero Leopando thanked Bello for bringing TUPAD and DOLE’s other humanitarian interventions like ‘Negosyo Kart’, ‘Free Bicycle’ and the DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP) to Siniloan’s crisis-hit workers.

After Siniloan, Bello visited the town of Rizal also in Laguna to extend more government assistance to displaced workers.

Rizal local executives led by Mayor Vener Munoz lauded Bello for including his town for TUPAD implementation.

Aside from TUPAD, the Labor chief also rolled-out DOLE’s other aid programs to the delight of the local government executives and workers of Rizal.

Also extended assistance were the towns of Alaminos, Liliw and Pagsanjan.

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