Additional pay for brgy officials, workers pushed

CEBU, Philippines - Former Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri hopes that the House of Representatives and the Senate will include as priority bill the granting of additional monthly honorarium to barangay officials, barangay tanods and barangay health workers.

Zubiri who was invited during the General Assembly of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines held in Cebu, said that the job of barangay officials and barangay health workers require them to be on call twenty-four hours a day to respond to the needs of their constituents.

The former senator said that they usually find it difficult to find regular jobs due to the nature of their responsibilities and involvement in their respective barangays and communities.

Considering the rising costs of living today, the former senator said the monthly honorarium awarded to the barangay officials and barangay health workers obviously falls below their subsistence requirements.

When he was in the House of Representatives and at the Senate, Zubiri said he introduced the bill but admitted that it failed to pass because of the lack of budget.

Zubiri said he was informed that some Barangay Health Workers received P300 monthly honorarium.

According to Zubiri, the additional honorarium to the barangay officials and barangay health workers should not be far behind.

Zubiri recalled that his proposed bill proposed to provide an additional monthly honorarium of P4,000 to barangay chairmen, P3,000 to barangay council members, barangay secretary, barangay treasurer, head of the barangay tanods and other barangay officials, and P2,000 to barangay tanods and barangay health workers.

The former senator said that the additional honorarium would not be enough to give the barangay officials and barangay health workers decent living, but in doing so, he hopes that it can help alleviate the financial difficulties they are now facing. — (FREEMAN)