BAGUIO CITY– The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance granting cash incentive in the amount of P2,000 for every year of service to members of the integrated barangay tanods who resigned or were separated from the service by the end of December 2018 without fault on their part and further amending pertinent provisions of Ordinance No. 39, series of 2011 which provided retirement benefits for tanods which will be P2,000 for every year of service with the funds for the purpose to be part of the annual budget of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO).
The ordinance authored by Councilor Joel Alangsab noted that Section 2 of Ordinance No. 39, series of 2011 will be amended to contain the fact that the service incentive to be given to a retiring member of the integrated barangay tanod by the local government as provided in Ordinance No. 54, series of 1995, as amended by Ordinance No. 42, series of 1997, shall be P2,000 for every year of service.
Further, the ordinance stated that the said service incentive shall also be given to members of the integrated barangay tanod who resigned and who were separated from the service by the end of December 2018 without fault on their part.
Earlier, Ordinance No. 39, series of 2011 provided the grant of service incentives for the members of the integrated barangay tanods in the form of cash incentive amounting to P2,000 for every year of service.
However, the ordinance stated that the grant of the service incentive in the form of cash will be granted to the members of the integrated barangay tanod upon retirement only, thereby leaving behind their colleagues who either resigned or were separated from the service for various reasons.
The ordinance stipulated that to fully achieve the intent and the spirit for the said grant, there is a need to manned pertinent provisions of Ordinance No. 39, series of 2011 to include members of the integrated barangay tanods who resigned or were separated from the service last December 2018 without fault in their part so that they will be able to have funds to at least help in sustaining their daily subsistence while they will be looking for other sustainable jobs that they could perform for them to earn a decent income that will continue uplifting the living condition of their families.
Some of the integrated barangay tanods who had been serving the local government for a number of decades as traffic enforcers assisting the traffic policemen of the BCPO and Public Order and Safety Division (POSD) enforcers had opted to resign from their jobs or some of them were separated for still unknown reasons at the end of December 2018.
Local legislators asserted the urgent need to compensate the services of the members of the integrated barangay tanods by expanding the coverage of the grant of the service incentive from those who retired from the service to include those who resigned or were separated from the service for them to be able to have sufficient income to help in sustaining the living condition of their families while searching for other jobs.
The ordinance was referred to a committee for study and recommendation whether or not the proposal will be approved on second and third readings in the coming sessions of the local legislative body. By Dexter A. See