Senator Manny Pacquiao has filed a bill that seeks to provide regularization, salary standardization, and additional benefits that would supplement those already provided in the laws, rules, and regulations for all appointed and elected barangay officials.
He said barangay workers were the forgotten heroes in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
In filing Senate Bill 1956, otherwise known as the Barangay Officials Salary Standardization Act of 2020, Pacquiao said that while other frontline workers like those in the health and security sectors were constantly reaping praises for their roles in the fight against the pandemic, barangay workers were barely appreciated but were constantly criticized.
“We are all witnesses to the selfless service of barangay officials and personnel in the performance of their responsibilities,” Pacquiao said.
“Despite the danger to their own health, barangay personnel assist in the monitoring and help in identifying the COVID-19 afflicted in their barangays and push the objective to completion. In many cases they promptly bring them to hospitals and quarantine facilities.”
In his bill, Pacquaio is seeking the standardization of the salaries of barangay officials, starting from the Punong Barangay, to the members of the Sangguniang Barangay, the Sangguniang Kabataan Chairperson, the Barangay Secretary and the Barangay Treasurer.
They would be entitled to fixed salaries, allowances, insurance, medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits and such other incentives and fringe benefits that are provided under Civil Service laws, rules and regulations for regular government employees.
“The barangay officials are appreciated in words but not fully served in practical terms. That is why I filed a bill that seeks to promote the welfare of the barangay officials by providing regularization, salary standardization and special risk allowance in times of emergency or calamities. Let us remember: Strong barangays will make a strong republic,” Pacquaio said in his speech.
The bill would direct the Department of Budget and Management to develop a standardized Position Classification and Compensation Scheme for Barangay Officials, Personnel and Volunteer Workers, “taking into consideration their educational qualification, nature of work intended to be performed and the financial capability of their respective barangays and subject to the minimum qualification standards and guidelines to be prescribed by the Civil Service Commission.”
