THE employees' union of the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) continues to stage their daily rallies demanding for the release of their employment benefits.
Hazelo Parlan, vice president of the Baciwa Employees' Union (BEU), and Greegan George Arca, union director, said on Monday, April 25, that Baciwa management continues to refuse the release of rice allowance worth P3,800 as well as monthly financial assistance for employees hired after 1999.
The rallies have been running daily since March. Union members gather from noon to 1 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., calling for the benefits' release.
Baciwa management reduced the rice allowance of employees hired after 1999 to P1,500. All employees also stopped receiving financial assistance benefits.
Perlan and Arca said the benefits enjoyed by employees when Baciwa was still a private entity should not have been stopped after it became a government-owned-and-controlled corporation (GOCC).
Arca said the Department of Budget and Management has not yet replied to the appeal sent by the union regarding the stoppage of the benefits.
Baciwa General Manager Mario Macatangay had earlier justified the change in benefits on an order by the Commission on Audit issued in 2003 and 2004 that prohibited the practice.