The tourism sector workers who are impacted by the lockdowns related to the mitigation efforts against coronavirus disease (Covid) will soon get support from the provincial government in the form of rice packs, as planned.
The provincial government already acquired 7,186 sacks of rice, where each sack contains 50 kilos (of rice), according to a report of the Capitol media.
The same report says that the total acquisition cost of the sacks of rice is pegged at P8.9 million.
Gov. Arthur Yap, in a radio interview on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020, said that there will be sectoral support that will be given to tourism workers whose livelihood is being impacted by the pandemic.
The support to the tourism industry workers is apart from other support they have received from national government and from their respective local government units (LGUs).
The report from the Capitol also says that the payment for the rice coming from the National Food Authority (NFA) was released on August 26, 2020.
With the acquisition of the sacks of rice, Yap said, he will be consulting with tourism industry stakeholders, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and other related agencies on how to best distribute the rice support to tourism workers.
In the same radio interview, Yap admitted that there is a program by the provincial government that will provide rice support to tourism industry workers, which may include workers affiliated with the mainstream tourism industry. The program is part of the province’s stimulus program.
Yap added that the provincial government is focusing on a system on how to distribute the rice support to the tourism workers. The governor reiterated the need to have a system of distribution as there are a lot of workers impacted by the pandemic. If government will not be careful in the distribution process, the governor said, there is a possibility that if the distribution system is erratic, there could be some people in the tourism industry that may raise complaints.
Moreover, the governor said the distribution of rice should be gradual and calculated as the rice supply is limited.
For this reason, as written earlier, before distributing the rice support, the governor will consult with the tourism industry stakeholders, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the local government units (LGU).
The governor denied allegations that the provincial government delayed the distribution of the rice support because the rice supply was paid only two weeks ago. There were insinuations that the provincial government acquired the rice supplies back in July 2020.
The families of tourism workers in Bohol each will receive 8 kilos of rice from the provincial government. This is aside from the rice support aimed at tourism sector workers.
He clarified that gradual release of the rice support does not mean that the provincial government has delayed the release.