Benefits for village workers proposed
BAGUIO CITY -- The city’s lone district representative filed House Bill (HB) 2576 that seeks to give standard compensation for barangay officials and other village workers.
“Our barangay officials, barangay workers and SK officials are the backbone in the delivery of needed social services to our people. They are the ones who assist in the maintenance of peace and order in our communities,” Rep. Marquez Go said on Friday.
Aside from barangay officials, the beneficiaries included in the proposal are village watchmen, members of the Lupong Tagapamayapa, Barangay Nutrition Action Officer (BNAO), Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS), Barangay Health Workers (BHW), Barangay Daycare Workers (BDW), and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials.
He said there are 42,045 barangays nationwide, whose officials and workers are tasked with a wide array of responsibilities to ensure the delivery of basic services such as health, social, sanitation management, waste disposal, and environmental services, to enforcement of barangay ordinances and securing peace and order.
“Barangay officials and
barangay workers are the primary link of the government to the grassroots. They are the most accurate barometer of the public’s pulse that bring forth invaluable contributions in aligning our national development goals with our people’s urgent needs and genuine concerns,” Go said.
The role of the barangay has also been spelled out by President Rodrigo R. Duterte in his State of the Nation Address when he talked about the big role that village officials perform in the success of the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.
“It is high time that we rationalize the compensation and benefits being received by our hard working barangay officials and workers including our SK officials to recognize their invaluable and indispensable role in every community,” Go said.
Go said the barangay captain is proposed to get a salary equivalent to Salary Grade (SG) 12, SG 9 for Sangguniang Barangay members, Sangguniang Kabataan Chairperson, Barangay Secretaries, and Barangay Treasurers, and SG 1 for tanods, BNAOs, BNS, BHWs and BDWs.
Under the bill, the aggregate of salaries, allowances, and other emoluments of the barangay officials shall be equivalent to a salary grade provided under Republic Act No. 6758 or the “Compensation and Position Classification Act of 1989”.
Go said members of the Lupong Tagapamayapa, SK members, the SK Secretary and the SK Treasurer were proposed to get an equivalent to sixty percent (60%) of the rate of SG 1.
As some village officials are actually receiving benefits higher than the proposed salary grades, Go said the bill also provides a non-diminution of benefits clause.
The bill includes giving the sector other benefits, such as coverage under the Government Insurance System (GSIS), PhilHealth, and Pag-ibig Fund. The bill was filed on July 24. (PNA)