Davao City Mayor and Vice Presidential aspirant Sara Duterte wants a law that would give better wages and benefits for barangay workers and volunteers.
Sara stressed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the barangay workers are the first ones to help the city and municipal governments.
“Laging ang barangay volunteers natin ang tinatawagnatin. It’s time po na pag-usapan sa kongreso na merongstandardization sa pagpapasweldo ng ating barangay volunteers,” Duterte said during Friday’s Metro Manila Virtual Caravan with her presidential running mate Bongbong Marcos.
Sara said despite the contributions of barangay volunteers in the implementation of government programs in the grassroots level, they are not well compensated.
“Ang ating mga BHWs (Barangay Health Workers) ay nakababad diyan sa mga tao, particularly na sa pagdadalang mga health programs ng ating city health (at) municipal health office,” she said.
Duterte, in her message, stressed that barangay workers and volunteers must not spend eight hours or more a day working.
“Ang volunteers sa amin sa Davao City not more than 2-3 hours a day ang trabaho. Ang nagyayari sa ating mgaBarangay Nutrition Scholar (BNS), Barangay Health Worker (BHW) at Barangay Kagawad ay naging main work na nila yung pagiging volunteer. In that case, hindi napo sila dapat tawaging volunteers but dapat meron na potalaga silang standard na sweldo na tinatanggap,” Sara said.
She also said government should look into mechanisms to justly compensate the volunteers for the tasks they perform.
“Dalawa lang po ang ating options: Una, i-acknowledge natin na kayo ay volunteers at ipagbawal natin ang full time na pagta-trabaho. Pangalawa, gawin nating standard yung sweldo ng ating mga volunteers, in that way, na-renumerate nang maayos yung inyong pagserbisyo saating communities,” Sara added.
The virtual caravan is a series of online meet-ups which aims to hear the sentiments of sectoral groups. HNP MEDIA
