BAGUIO CITY – The City Council, during last Monday’s regular session, approved on first reading a proposed resolution providing death welfare assistance amounting to PhP5,000 to the bereaved families of all bonafide residents or registered voters of the city.
Under the proposed ordinance authored by Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr., the local government shall allocate and appropriate funeral assistance amounting to PhP5,000 and/or sympathy card or any token equivalent to or amounting not more than PhP1,000 for bonafide residents or registered voters of the city.
Further, the Abuloy ng Baguio City death benefit shall be primarily given to the legal spouse of the deceased.
However, should there be no spouse who survives the decedent, the benefit granted under the proposed measure shall be given to the relatives in the second degree of kinship; children, parents, siblings, grandchildren, aunts and uncles.
The deceased shall be established by competent documents of residency, who, at the time of death, was a bonafide resident of the city or duly registered voter. For minors aged below 18 who meet their untimely death, any of the parents should be a registered voter or a resident of the city.
Claimants of the Abuloy ng Baguio death benefit shall submit a duly filled up claimant’s form issued by the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), certified true copy of death certificate, valid government issued identification card of the relative or representative and barangay certificate of residency of the deceased.
The ordinance tasked the CWDO to be the lead department in the implementation of the proposed measure with the assistance of the Local Civil Registry Office.
Moreover, the CSWDO will also be tasked to draft the implementing rules and regulations of the measure.
The Special Services Division of the City Mayor’s Office, together with the officers of the Liga ng mga Barangay, will provide assistance in gathering pertinent data such as reports of deaths from the city’s barangays and assist in the distribution of the said benefit.
The ordinance mandated the allocation and appropriation of the needed substantial amount for the continuous implementation of the proposed measure under its maintenance and operating expenses.
The ordinance underscored that with the escalating cost of burial services nowadays, the local government recognizes the need to further support its residents by providing primary financial assistance as well as emotional support to their bereaved families.
For the past three years, particularly in 2021-2023, the Local Civil Registry Office recorded an average of some 6,196 death certificate applications per annum which are mostly bonafide residents of the city.by Dexter A. See
