BAGUIO CITY – Representative-elect Mauricio G. Domogan vowed to aggressively work for the passage of the Magna Carta for Garbage workers to help provide them with the necessary benefits commensurate to the hazards of their job.
Domogan, who had been a local chief executive for 18 years, said that there is a need for the government to provide benefits for the garbage workers considering the hazards of their job but local governments cannot do it alone considering the limitations on the expenditures for personnel services prescribed under the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code and the available funds for such purposes.
He claimed that it is necessary to have a national law for garbage workers because of the pressing issues and concerns for their safety and welfare considering they are frontline workers of the government.
The comebacking congressional representative pointed out that one of the benefits to be granted to garbage workers is their hazard pay that is commensurate to the condition of their work to ensure they are entitled to such compensation.
Domogan lauded the garbage workers for their dedication and commitment in performing their duties and responsibilities even with limited benefits aside from the fact that most of them are volunteers who rely on the proceeds of the sale of recyclable waste that they sell to the junk shops as their income.
According to him, aside from granting the garbage workers with benefits such as hazard pay, it is also equally important to provide them with fixed salaries that will be drawn from the coffers of the government for them to earn a decent income from such hazardous jobs.
He stated that he will closely work with concerned local government officials and the garbage workers to ascertain their issues and concerns to be addressed with the proposed bill he intends to file.
He admitted that the garbage workers had been left behind in terms of the benefits and compensation enshrined under existing laws, rules and regulations that is why it is equally important to consider the proposed Magna Carta for Garbage workers as one of the priority legislative measures he intends to file once he completes the necessary data related to this so that deliberations of the proposal can start in the committee or even technical working group levels.
Garbage workers had been lobbying for their tenure in service and their benefits and compensation because of the hazards of their duties and responsibilities as waste pickers but these had not been considered as a priority by concerned government agencies in the appropriation of funds that paved the way for them to remain as volunteer workers over the past several decades.
The incoming lawmaker said that he will closely consult and listen with the garbage workers in crafting the provisions of the proposed law that will be filed in the 20th Congress for consideration and appropriate action by the congressional representatives.
Numerous issues and concerns had cropped up relative to the plight of garbage workers from the different local governments for them to be included as regular workers of the government that will have their own plantilia but such had not been acted upon by concerned authorities in the past leading to the long-standing predicament of this sector. By Dexter A. See
