NDRRMC: Disaster Respondents Have No Hazard Pay, For Now
NDRRMC – The NDRRMC recently admitted that it does not have the funding to grant hazard pay to disaster respondents.
National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council executive director Usec. Ricardo Jalad made a response during the Laging Handa briefing on Monday to the appeal of 24 officers of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office in Northern Samar to provide them, as well as workers on the ground with compensatory benefits, according to CNN.
This is due to the latter’s response to various hazards, among them include the pandemic and the recent calamities that hit the country.
“Ang budgetary requirement na iyan, sa ngayon, ay hindi po covered ng National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund,”
“Siguro ngayon, ang magagawa ng NDRRMC ay magsagawa ng polisiya para magbigay ng hazard pay sa mga rescuers.”
DRRM officers issued a letter last Friday to President Rodrigo Duterte, the council’s chairperson and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, and Jalad, who also administrates the Office of Civil Defense.
The DRRM officers said that it was “very disheartening” that the rescuers have not been receiving any benefits compared to health workers who have been granted hazard pay and special risk allowance by the government.
“It is very disheartening and demoralizing that despite our role as ‘cannon fodder’ to all types of hazards, not even Republic Act 10121, nor any other law or national issuance, provides for the grant of hazard pay or other similar compensatory benefits to us,”
They added that the proposal to put up the Department of Disaster Resilience would have amended Republic Act No. 10121 or implemented other laws which would mandate the granting of hazard pay to disaster respondents, among them include DRRM officers, community disaster volunteers, and other non-health DRRM personnel nationwide.
The recent administration has stressed the need to ammend the said RA, which is also known as the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, via bills which would extend the hazard pay grant to all essential workers that deliver services amid emergencies, based on the report.
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