Valenzuela OKs P.1-million benefits for village executives

MANILA, Philippines - The Valenzuela city council approved last week an ordinance giving more benefits to local village executives who could render three successive terms in office.

Councilor Alvin Feliciano, president of the Valenzuela barangay league and author of the Standardized Barangay Officials Welfare Benefits, said the ordinance is meant to recognize hard-working barangay officials.

Ordinance 001 Series of 2010 mandates that a barangay captain would be entitled to a P100,000 cash benefit while a councilman would receive P30,000 once they complete three successive terms, Feliciano said.

He said officials who were able to serve three successive terms but in different positions could still get cash benefits, the worth of which depends on the position involved.

Apart from this, barangay officials could also receive P5,000 hospital assistance and P50,000 death benefit for a barangay captain and P25,000 for a councilman.

Feliciano said this particular kind of help is only for Valenzuela City barangay officials but hopes that village leaders all over the country would soon receive the same benefits once Section 393 of the Local Government Code would be approved by the national government. – Perseus Echeminada, Pete Laude