Bontoc gives hazard pay to disaster workers

By Alpine L. Killa

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Regular employees of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office of municipal government here are now entitled to hazard pay. 
    The Sangguniang Bayan passed ordinance 330, s. 2021, granting bonuses and allowances (hazard pay) to regular employees of the MDRRMO. 
    The ordinance said MDRRMO personnel stake their lives to give humanitarian assistance or save the lives of those affected by calamities. 
    Mayor Franklin Odsey approved the ordinance recognizing said employees are among the human resource of the local government exposed to hazardous work areas as they attend to emergency operations where their lives are placed at risk. 
    He added the hazard pay is equitable compensation for services they provide.
    The ordinance stated all regular employees of the MDRRMO shall be entitled to the hazard pay which shall be P1, 000 per month regardless of their period of exposure. 
    It was stipulated in the ordinance that affected personnel shall be entitled to receive their hazard pay starting February 2021 irrespective of the date of its approval and affectivity.
    Section 3, Article 8 of the 1987 Constitution provides that the State shall protect labor, promote full employment, provide equal opportunities regardless of gender, race, or creed and regulate employee-employer relations.
    DBM national budget circular 451, series of 1996 provides compensation premium or allowance may be provided for officials and employees, who, because of the nature of their work, are exposed to hazards.
    The municipal ordinance passed by the Sangguniang Bayan was sponsored by Councilors Jerome Tudlong, Jr., and Alsannyster Patingan