Cebu City doubles stipend for tanods in Taptap, Bonbon

The Cebu City government has doubled the honorarium for tanods or village watchmen of Barangays Taptap and Bonbon for the final quarter of 2017, thanks to their impressive performance in the fight against illegal drugs.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña approved the recommendation of Cebu City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention head Garry Lao to increase the tanods’ honoraria from P4,000 to P8,000.

“Ang performance sa barangay tanods in terms of the campaign on anti-illegal drugs, sila mismo naa and inig patawag sa drug surrenderers, naa sad sila. We conducted home visits sa drug surrenderers, naa man sila,” Lao told reporters yesterday.

Taptap and Bonbon are also the first two villages that regularly submit their accomplishment reports.

To recall, Osmeña issued a memorandum in February last year directing barangay tanods to submit their accomplishment reports as requirement before they can get their cash incentives.

Lao said he still has to consult the mayor whether or not to continue giving P8,000 in quarterly honorarium for tanods this year.

He also said no other barangays deserve an additional P4,000 in the honoraria of their tanods.

“Wala tay i-recommend nga other barangay tanods nga for additional because naay ubang tanods motrabaho lang because of the incentives,” Lao said.

Further, he said majority of tanods make the accomplishment reports only for the sake of compliance.

“Dili nila priority, nag-work sila karong gabii unya inig ugma nanarbaho og lain. Ang mahitabo mabiyaan nila ilahang responsibilidad,” Lao said.

Among the factors that Lao will look into before making a recommendation to double the allowance is the performance of the barangay tanods.

He pointed out that the giving of cash incentives to barangay tanods is not an obligation of the city but rather a “privilege” for the workers.

“Ato lang ni i-point out ba nga ang paghatag og incentive sa mga tanods dili na siya right; it’s privilege. So the barangay tanods cannot demand nga, uy ihatag nako ang P4,000,” Lao said.

Lao said he is looking at requiring barangay tanods to submit accomplishment reports individually.

“Pangayoan nato sila og individual accomplishment report. I know this is very difficult pero in the spirit of fairness ato ng pagabuhaton,” he said.

At present, the barangay secretaries of respective barangays are the ones making the reports of the tanods.