The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Regional Office 6 through its Negros Occidental Field Office facilitated the release of P4,286,573.25 from the Financial Benefit Fund (FBF) to 491 bioethanol plant workers in Negros Occidental.
Pursuant to Republic Act 9367 or the “The Biofuel Act of 2006”, 80 percent of the levy collected from the bioethanol utilizing molasses as feedstock will be used to support the Social Amelioration Workers Program (SAWP) for the bioethanol workers, the DOLE 6 said in a post on its Facebook page.
Victorias Milling Corp., URC La Carlota Distillery, Asian Alcohol, and Kooll Company Inc. released the financial benefit fund in December and January, it said.
The FBF released covers Calendar Year 2022. The amount received by the workers ranges from P5,000 to P20,000 depending on the company’s production.
Apart from the FBF, P2,304,000 financial assistance benefiting 1,152 bioethanol plant workers was also released by the DOLE to mitigate the impact brought by Tropical Storm Odette that hit the Visayas and Mindanao areas on Dec. 16, 2021.
The DOLE said P2,000 financial assistance was released to each of the qualified bioethanol workers in the affected areas. For Negros Occidental, the assistance covers the bioethanol plants of Kooll Company Inc., Universal Robina Corporation- La Carlota, San Carlos Bioenergy Corp, and Victorias Milling Corp., the DOLE said.*