San Juan City OKs selective increase in allowances

Barangay (village) personnel and police officers handling women’s and children’s concerns in San Juan City can look forward to an increase in their monthly allowances from the city government starting this year.

Earlier, the city council enacted an ordinance increasing the honorarium that Barangay Women’s Desk Officers (BWDOs) and Women and Children’s Desk (WCD) police officers receive under the city government’s gender and development program.

From just P1,000 a month, BWDOs will now receive a monthly allowance of P1,500, with P1,000 sourced from the Barangay Gender Fund. The other P500 will come from the City Gender Equality Focal Point Fund.

The ordinance also increased the P300 allowance that police WCD officers receive to P500, all coming from the City Gender Equality Focal Point Fund.

Ordinance 50, Series of 2013 amended provisions of the Gender and Development Code of the then municipality of San Juan, specifically those setting the monthly honoraria for BWDOs and police WCD officers on top of their monthly salaries.

The San Juan Gender and Development Code, enacted in 2003 and amended in 2007, gives a P1,000 monthly honorarium to BWDOs, sourced from the Barangay Gender Fund and the City Gender Equality Focal Point Fund.

On the other hand, police officers manning WCDs in police stations in the city receive a P300 allowance every month from the City Gender Equality Focal Point Fund.

Ordinance 50, Series of 2013, which was enacted by the city council on Aug. 12, 2013, and approved two days later by Mayor Guia Gomez, took effect at the start of 2014, raising these allowances.

However, to receive the honorarium, BWDOs and police WCD officers need to submit a monthly accomplishment report to the barangay chair and the City Gender Equality Focal Point Officer, respectively.