BARANGAY workers in the province who were not present during the distribution of their honorarium will still receive the annual incentive from the Provincial Government.
However, they will have to wait until the Capitol is done with the distribution.
Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale said the Provincial Health Office (PHO) and the Provincial Treasurer’s Office (PTO) needed to liquidate all the honoraria that had been distributed and the honoraria that were returned because these were not collected by their recipients.
“It’s going to be a tedious process. They’ll have to make another payroll,” she said in Cebuano.
According to Ainjeliz de la Torre-Orong, Provincial Information Office head, the financial incentives will have to be liquidated immediately because these are taken from cash advances. That way, the PTO can make another cash advance for the next distribution in the next local government unit (LGU), she said. The PTO also doesn’t want to be overtaken by the election ban, she said.
“There will be a list of how many received the honorarium and how many did not. This will be verified by the PTO to make sure the money that is returned adds up,” Orong said in Cebuano.
Magpale said barangay workers from Liloan were not the only ones who did not receive their honorarium.
“I can say without batting an eyelash, wa jud mi namulitika (we were not politicking),” she said.
During the press conference in her office last Thursday, March 14, the vice governor said Liloan Mayor Christina Garcia-Frasco was informed in a letter that the distribution of honorarium in the town would take place on March 8.
Frasco was supposed to disseminate the information, Magpale said. That was why they were wondering why only a third of the barangay workers showed up on distribution day.
“We were told that some barangay captains were instructed not to let their BHWs (barangay health workers) collect,” she said. However, Magpale would not say who gave the instruction.
But Frasco pointed out that her office did not officially receive the letter. She said the letter, which has been spread on social media, did not invite her to the event unlike last year when she and all the town’s elected officials attended the distribution.
“Now that it’s election season, their candidates were at the distribution in the barangay they chose and they did not give the incentives to those who were unable to attend. It was clear Magpale was politicking because she placed more importance on the rally instead of what was good for the town,” Frasco said in Cebuano.
The mayor said candidates of the Barug Alang sa Kauswagan ug Demokrasya Party handed out the incentives last March 8.
“If the vice governor was not politicking, why did they not release the incentives to BHWs and tanods who couldn’t attend the rally even though they had a valid reason like they were conducting measles vaccination,” Frasco said in Cebuano.
Every year, Capitol gives each BHW, barangay nutrition scholar, day care worker and barangay animal health aide P2,400. The tanods and lupon each get P1,500.
Since the Provincial Government began the distribution of honorarium this year, many barangay workers were not able to receive their incentives either because they were busy or they were on duty, Orong said.
On Friday, March 15, the distribution of the honorarium will be in Tabuelan, Asturias and Balamban. (From SCG of SuperBalita Cebu, PJB)