The city council, during its regular session on March 30, passed a resolution requesting the Local Finance Committee of the City Government of Baguio to source funds to subsidize the hazard pay of barangay officials and other workers identified as barangay frontliners for their efforts in the COVID-19 crisis.
The city council also passed another resolution supporting the use of available funds of the barangays for the grant of hazard pay to their qualified employees pursuant to the provisions of Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Circular No. 2020-1 (Guidelines on the Grant of COVID-19 Hazard Pay).
City Treasurer Alex Cabarrubias said barangay officials/workers are entitled to receive hazard pay pursuant to Budget Circular No. 2020-1 issued by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). However, he noted that the said circular does not stipulate whether the hazard pay of barangay officials and other workers will be drawn from the barangay funds or the city funds. The city treasurer clarified that under “regular circumstances,” it should be charged against the barangay funds.
The city council, however, advised the Local Finance Committee to look into the prospect of appropriating a certain amount from the city funds in order to augment the funds of the barangays for the provision of the said hazard pay.
Punong Barangay Ignacio Gallente, Vice President of the Liga ng mga Barangay, said some barangays might not have sufficient funds to provide hazard pay to their frontliners as their respective barangay budgets have already been allocated and exhausted for their operations in the COVID-19 crisis and for other essential projects.
In line with the request to source funds to subsidize the hazard pay of barangay officials and workers, the city council further proposed for the formulation of guidelines that will determine and standardize the amount to be granted as hazard pay to each official/worker in the barangay level.
“We might have a problem if one barangay will give a hazard pay of P100.00 a day and another barangay will give P500.00 a day, so we are proposing a uniformed rate for barangay officials and another uniformed rate for volunteers,” Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda said.
The Local Finance Committee said they will prepare the proposed guidelines. **Jordan G. Habbiling
