P8 million more needed for BEOs honoraria

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City government needs at least P8 million to continue paying for the honorarium of the Barangay Environmental Officers for the rest of the year because the city’s budget for the program is already depleting.

This after 254 BEOs from 78 barangays of the city are scheduled to receive their honoraria for the months of February and March amounting to over P1 million.

The disbursement vouchers are already being prepared at the City Treasurer’s Office.

Eric Surban, Cebu City Environmental Sanitation Enforcement Team Admin Officer, said that usually, it takes five days for the honorarium to be released once it reaches the treasurer’s office.

Mayor Michael Rama has also instructed the CTO to prioritize the release of the honorarium after barangays complained about the delays in the honorarium.

Surban explained that the delays were caused by some barangays that frequently change BEOs.

“Sige man gud sila’g ilis og tawo so sige sad mi og usab sa masterlist. The masterlist should match with the Authority to Collect issued by the mayor so every time we have to change the masterlist, we have to secure a new Authority to Collect,” he said.

Once the authority to collect is issued by the mayor, the CESET office prepared the payroll and the BEOs are asked to submit their Daily Time Record and accomplishment reports which will be attached to the payroll that will be submitted to the different offices.

The payroll passes through the mayor’s office, the budget office, the accounting office and the CTO.

Usually, it takes time at the accounting office to make sure that proper procedures are followed to avoid questions from the Commission on Audit.

Yesterday, the accounting office has finally endorsed it to the CTO.

Surban said that this is the first time they experienced delays because the number of BEOs has increased largely because all barangays have already hired their own BEOs.

When the CESET started the program, there were only eight barangays but due to the recent closure of the Sanitary Landfill in Inayawan, the barangays need support in enforcing the solid waste management law.

BEOs assist CESET personnel in monitoring people’s compliance with City Ordinance 1361 and 2031. They apprehend violators and issue citation tickets.

Surban said that they were also overwhelmed by the number of BEOs now, especially that some of them do not submit their DTR and accomplishment reports in time.

The 254 BEOs that will receive their honorarium soon do not include the BEOs in barangay Capitol Site and Sirao because they were not able to submit the requirements until the payroll was finished.

Surban said that they will do their best so as not to delay the honorarium for April but he said there might be delays for the month of May since their P3 million budget under the 2011 Annual Budget is only up to April considering the number of BEOs now and the plan of big barangays to add more BEOs. – (FREEMAN)