The city government has urged employers to provide food assistance to their workers amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.
In an statement yesterday, Mayor Sara Duterte appealed employers be compassionate to their employees in this time of crisis.
“I strongly urge these employers to provide the most needed food assistance to their employees affected by the measures we have implemented and will implement in order to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus,” Duterte said, adding that instead of donating elsewhere they should prioritize their workers.
“I appeal that you see through the plight of your workers, provide them with food assistance, and help them survive the crisis that swept through sectors and classes — but severely, those who barely make ends meet, including your workers,” she said.
For employers who still allow their workers to report for work, they must also provide them with transportation. “It is encouraged for them to commission PUJs and hire drivers left out of work because of Covid-19. It would be an act of goodwill that would be deeply appreciated,” she said.
“The world did not expect Covid-19 to happen but it did — and it unleashed unprecedented havoc to all of us,” she added.
By helping their workers, she said, the employers are also helping the city government reach out to people who need help. “Now we all need to come together to ensure that the intervention of the local government of Davao will reach and cover all families in the city, particularly those who have less,” she added.
She added that he help of the employers will help the city government make sure “that no one is out of food, that no Dabawenyo will starve until April 30, 2020.”
“We only need to cooperate and help each other. We are Dabawenyos. We have always shown that our hearts are for each other and for our city. Collectively, our spirit as a people has been and will always be indestructible,” she said. (With Warren Elijah E. Valdez)
