DOLE Ensures Assistance To Higher Education Institution Personnel To Be Displaced By K To 12

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz issued Department Order No. 152-16 prescribing the standards and procedures for the effective implementation of the Department’s Adjustment Measures Program (AMP) for higher education institution personnel who will be displaced by the K to 12 Program

“The K to 12 DOLE AMP is part of the government’s inter-agency mitigation measures for affected higher education institution personnel during the transition period of the implementation of the K-12 Program,” said Baldoz, adding that the K TO 12 AMP is aimed at supporting would-be displaced HEI personnel in their transition to self or full-time employment through financial support; employment facilitation, and training and livelihood.

She said that K to 12 AMP is a safety-net linked to active labor market programs (ALMP) and provides unemployment-related benefit schemes to displaced those who will not qualify or avail of the Department of Education (DepED) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) mitigation measures.

Baldoz emphasized that Department Order No. 152-16 seeks to ensure that the K to 12 DOLE AMP provides assistance through provision of easy and priority access to DOLE menu of services under the program; prescribing clear and transparent operational procedures for DOLE Quick Response Teams (QRTs), DOLE regional offices and field offices, and Public Employment Service Office in the program implementation; and addressing the problems and issues that may arise during the program implementation.

She added that K to 12 AMP covers all would-be displaced HEI personnel, regardless of tenure and position, caused by the implementation of the K to 12 Program, during the transition period.

The guidelines also identifies the HEI personnel who are excluded from financial support, but may avail of the employment facilitation, training, and livelihood under the K to 12 Adjustment Measures Program (AMP). These HEI personnel are government employees whose part-time teaching loads are affected; permanent public HEI personnel whose part-time teaching load are affected; and substitute teachers/ professor with a maximum tenure of three months.

D.O. 152-16 also stated that financial assistance for the HEI personnel and their families shall be based on the prevailing median salary of the HEI personnel per nature or appointment per region, or his/her monthly salary.

The financial assistance shall be three months for non-permanent and six months for permanent HEI personnel. If the displaced personnel is non-permanent and has no other source of income, said personnel shall be entitled to six months of financial assistance provided upon submission of his/her income tax return during the application for verification.

Employment facilitation services for the re-employment of HEI personnel includes profiling of displaced HEI personnel, matching, and job referrals. The following active labor market programs will be used: labor market information, including Phil-JobNet, Employment/Job Search Kiosks, and industry career guides and occupational pamphlets; referral placement , including Public Service Office (PESO), Private Employment Agencies, registered contractors and subcontractors, industry partners, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TEDA) accredited training institutions; and career guidance and employment coaching, including network of career guidance and counsellors and career advocates.

HEI displaced personnel can also avail of training and skills upgrading conducted by TESDA. Entrepreneurship training and livelihood opportunities will be under the DOLE Kabuhayan Program.

The Program Management Office (PMO) which will established at the DOLE-Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), under the supervision of the Undersecretary for Employability of Workers and Competitiveness of Enterprises Cluster, will oversee the program implementation at the national and regional level.

The PMO, through the BLE, shall provide the technical and administrative support services to the program implementers in the national, Regional, and field offices; conduct monitoring, evaluation, and analysis of the status of the implementation of all program components; consolidate monthly reports from DOLE implementing offices and submit quarterly and annual reports to the Undersecretary as the need arises; set up efficient internal monitoring and control mechanism at all levels of program implementation; and develop and maintain a database and tracking system for program clients and related documents, processes, and outputs.

The department order also stated that the Quick response Team (QRT) shall undertake activities pursuant to DOLE Department Order No. 7, Series of 2001, or the Guidelines for the Operation of the Quick Response Teams. The assessment made by the QRT shall be the basis of the DOLE Regional Offices and Field Offices in providing the recommended plan of action for the displaced HEI personnel.

The DOLE Technical Working Group shall be composed of focal persons from the BLE, Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR), Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns (BWSC), Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC), Financial Management Service (FMS), Institute for Labor Studies (ILS), Legal Service (LS), National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and Technical Education and Skills Development authority (TESDA).

To ensure the effectiveness of the program and its Guidelines, the PMO shall conduct an evaluation n every six months. The DOLE TWG shall also meet quarterly for 2016 to 2018 and every semester from 2019 to 2020 to assess the effectiveness of program through the number of successfully server HEI personnel, discuss arising issues and problems during the implementation, and devise recommendations for improvement for the program. (DOLE)