Senatorial candidate Ben “Bitag” Tulfo proposed providing life insurance to barangay volunteers, who risk their lives by helping the community during disasters and calamities.
“What if you die as a volunteer frontliner during a calamity? What will happen to your family left behind? There is no life insurance in this dangerous work?” Tulfo said in his address to two Nueva Ecija municipalities where he was invited to speak on Sunday.
“Which of the national candidates running is promoting this for you?” he added.
Barangay officials, residents, and students attended the said gatherings in Talavera and Rizal.
“We must give dignity and importance to the volunteer frontliners in the barangay, under the DILG and other agencies. Most of the volunteers in the barangay, only receive an allowance, not a salary. Currently, what the barangay tanods and other volunteers receive is as high as P1,000 per month,” Tulfo said.
“If the Almighty God wills, this is what I will review and visit, the current laws pertaining to disaster and emergency response. The welfare of the volunteers is important to me because their lives are at stake,” he added.
The senatorial candidate has been aggressively promoting the formation of the Department of Disaster and Emergency that would focus on and manage an immediate response to disasters and timely distribution of relief goods followed by rehabilitation of the victims.