Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday renewed his call for lawmakers to expedite the approval of a bill that seeks to provide a lump sum retirement gratuity pay equivalent to one year honorarium, or P100,000, as well as a higher Christmas bonus for village or barangay officials.
Gatchalian said the existing amounts provided for under the Local Government Code of 1991 or Republic Act No. 7160 are no longer sufficient to provide for the families of barangay officials.
“The provisions in the Local Government Code enumerating the benefits and privileges for these barangay officials leave much to be desired,” Gatchalian said in his Senate Bill No. 1867.
“If we are to effectively give to the local government units the self-sufficiency that the government envisions, we must be able to provide the conditions conducive to a productive leadership,” Gatchalian said in his Senate Bill No. 1867.
The senator also cited the crucial role of barangay officials in not only enforcing laws but also in exercising judicial functions.
“The barangay officials are on-call 24/7 for the welfare of their constituencies. Their political jurisdiction may be small but their duties are expansive and call for direct assimilation among members of the community,” he said.
The bill proposes to fill in the inequities in the present law by providing for the increase in the barangay officials’ honorarium and Christmas bonuses and granting an additional benefit of a lump sum gratuity pay upon their retirement.
“That is the much-needed benefit and privilege to our hard-working barangay officials,” the senator added.
Under the measure, the P1,000 monthly allowance of barangay chairmen as well as barangay tanods and members of the lupong tagapamayapa (or those in the pacification committees), shall be increased from P2,000 to P5,000.
“This is on top of the P2,000 Christmas bonus, an increase of P1,000 from the amount currently provided for in the law,” Gatchalian said.
Gatchalian also proposed grant scholarships to legitimate dependent children of barangay watchmen (tanod).
Meanwhile, retired barangay officials, who are at least 60 years of age and has served nine years or three consecutive terms are entitled to a lump sum gratuity pay equivalent to one year honorarium or P100,000, as stated under the bill.
The amounts needed for such benefits would be sourced from the Barangay Retirement Gratuity Fund that would be created following the enactment of the proposed bill. (Hannah Torregoza)
Source of news and photo of Sen. Gatchalian: Manila Bulletin
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