For barangay workers: Council working on honoraria

CEBU, Philippines — The executive department has not been remiss in its duty to fast-track the release of honoraria for barangay tanods, according to Cebu City Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña.

Councilor Osmeña, the wife of the mayor, said she coordinated with Association of Barangay Councils President and ex-officio Councilor Phillip Zafra to discuss all the issues concerning the honoraria of the workers.

This was her statement after several questions were raised by the barangay captains on the giving of honoraria to barangay tanods.

“I said no problem and we sat down and we talked and in fact, we had discussed how to facilitate and how to make it more efficient that the barangay workers, not only the tanods but the rest, would be able to get their assistance from the city,” Councilor Osmeña said.

She said everything was settled in that meeting since everyone agreed to make some adjustments to fast-track the release of the honoraria.

Councilor Osmeña said several issues which caused the delay of the release of the honoraria came up during the meeting. These included the inconsistencies in the names in the payroll every month, non-compliance of some of the workers regarding their requirements, and the clustering of the names of the barangay workers, among others.

Councilor Osmeña said these issues were already resolved during the meeting they had with the members of the executive department and Zafra.

However, Mayor Osmeña issued a memorandum directing all barangay tanods to submit their weekly accomplishment reports before they will be given their honoraria.

Apas Barangay Captain Ramil Ayuman said the executive department should be as quick in releasing the honoraria, as they are in asking for accomplishment reports.

The 60 tanods and lupong tagapamayapa of barangays Mambaling, Paril, and Poblacion Pardo will not receive their honoraria for August after their failure to submit their accomplishment reports.

Councilor Osmeña said the executive department is willing to sit down with the ABC Cebu City Chapter Board, and even with the members of the City Council allied with the opposition, to discuss the giving of honoraria of the barangay workers.

“But it never happened. They asked for something. My role here is, aside from the fact that I’m his (the mayor’s) wife, I’m also a councilor. Anything I can do because of my peculiar position ba to make the legislative and executive work, I’ll do it,” she said, adding that she cannot force the opposition.

Meanwhile, Zafra said he has already talked to Cebu City Office on Substance Abuse Prevention head Garry Lao about the honoraria of the tanods.

Zafra said he is hoping that the Office of the Mayor will reconsider the request of the barangay officials through COSAP.

One request of the barangay is that COSAP should inform all police stations in the city to assign someone to be deployed in the barangays to validate the accomplishment reports submitted by the barangay and to affix their signature.

He also asked COSAP to issue a memorandum that contains all the requirements and prerequisites for the submission of the weekly reports. (FREEMAN)