EcoWaste Coalition on Wednesday lauded the local government unit of Navotas for granting hazard pay to its garbage collectors who are risking their lives amid the pandemic crisis.
Aileen Lucero, the national coordinator of EcoWaste Coalition, congratulated Navotas City for showing compassion to the garbage collectors.
“Navotas sets a good example for other local government units (LGUs) to follow as waste workers carry on with their service to prevent trash from piling up during the COVID-19 public health emergency,” said Sonia Mendoza, chairman of Mother Earth Foundation (MEF).
” Based on the signed copy of the ordinance obtained by the EcoWaste Coalition from the Office of Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco, City Ordinance No. 2020-10 grants hazard pay of P500 per day to regular, contractual, or casual employees of the city, including contract of service or job order workers, who physically report for work during the ECQ period,” Mendoza said.
“Our frontliners had to leave the safety of their homes and risk exposure to COVID-19 to be able to fulfill their duties and serve Navoteños,” said the mayor.
“It is but right that we honor and recognize their sacrifices,” he added.
Doctors, nurses, and other staff of the Navotas City Hospital will also receive hazard pay form the LGU. Personnel of Navotas City Health Office, staff required to maintain the skeletal workforce, street sweepers, and utility personnel were also granted hazard pay.
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Navotas grants hazard pay to its garbage collectors
The LGU will get the budget for hazard pay from the 2020 Supplemental Budget of the City Government.
Tiangco said it is their way of recognizing “government employees and workers engaged through contract of service or job order, whose services are urgently necessary and who physically report for work during the period of ECQ are inevitably exposed to health risks and hazards”.
Navotas City councilors passed the Congressional Joint Resolution No. 4, series of 2009, which is the “premium given to government personnel exposed to hazardous situations such as, but not limited to, disease-infested areas and areas declared under state of calamity or emergency which pose occupational risks or perils to life.”
EcoWaste Coalition on Monday appealed to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to authorize local government units to give hazard pay to garbage collectors using local development funds.