Barangays ask Ombud for help with crew’s honoraria
Cebu City’s budget for this year includes P115.2 million for barangay tanods and P50.4 million for garbage loaders.
So why, said Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Philip Zafra, did Mayor Tomas Osmeña decide to suspend these barangay workers’ honoraria, citing “budgetary limitations”?
Zafra asked the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas to intervene, in a letter sent six weeks after the mayor issued a memorandum on the suspension of the fees. Zafra, who is also the barangay captain of Tisa, said that some of the City’s villages need the City’s help because they can’t afford to pay these workers’ honoraria on their own.
Osmeña, in a separate interview, said that just because an appropriation is in the budget doesn’t mean the City has to spend it. City Hall is evaluating the performance of barangay tanods and garbage loaders, who have also been asked to undergo drug tests.
The Ombudsman Act of 1989 (Republic Act 6770) empowers the anti-graft office to “correct any abuse or impropriety” in a public official’s duties.
The Cebu City Government’s 2017 budget includes P296.69 million for aid to the 80 barangays but this was earmarked for maintenance and operating expenses, not personnel.
The Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) in Cebu City has sought the intervention of the Ombudsman-Visayas on the order of Mayor Tomas Osmeña to suspend the granting of honoraria to barangay garbage loaders and tanods.
In a letter addressed to Deputy Ombudsman Paul Elmer Clemente, ABC president Philip Zafra said Osmeña’s reasons in withholding the honoraria of the barangay workers are not sufficient.
In a memorandum dated Jan. 24, Osmeña told the barangays that he will suspend the giving of honoraria, which took effect last month, due to budgetary limitations.
However, Zafra said that in this year’s annual budget, the City has an approved appropriation of P115.2 million for barangay tanods and P50.4 million for garbage collectors.
Zafra said that the mayor alleged in media interviews that some tanods and loaders have been delinquent in their duties and responsibilities, which ABC objected.
Zafra believes that if there are some workers who are not performing their job, others who are performing well should not be made to suffer the consequences.
Zafra, who is also the barangay captain of Tisa, said there are other villages that could not af- ford to give honorarium to their loaders and tanods, that’s why they’re asking the City Government not to stop their assistance in order not to hamper the delivery of basic services.
Zafra said they are “seeking assistance on this urgent matter with the intention that any abuse or impropriety in the performance of duties may be stopped, prevented and/or corrected.”
Asked for comment, Osmeña said the granting of honorarium to barangay workers is not obligatory on the part of the City.
He said putting an appropriation in the budget doesn’t mean that the City is required to spend it. He said granting honorarium to loaders and tanods is not his priority. Osmeña said the City has an ongoing evaluation of tanods and loaders who are required to undergo drug tests.
Under Section 15 (2) of the Republic Act 6770 of the Ombudsman Act of 1989, the anti-graft office can “direct, upon complaint or at its own instance, any officer or employee of the government, or of any subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, as well as any act or duty required by law, or to stop, prevent, and correct any abuse or impropriety in the performance of duties.” /