Call to DILG: Grant trash collectors hazard pay during pandemic

ENHANCED EXPOSURE A garbage collector does a balancing act while stacking up bags of trash on a moving dump truck en route to a waste transfer station
in Barangay Santo Niño, Marikina City, in this photo taken on April 11. With their job made more hazardous by the coronavirus outbreak, trash collectors deserve
more than just a pat on the back these days, according to the environment watchdog EcoWaste Coalition. —LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines — An environment and health watchdog has appealed to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to authorize local governments to grant hazard pay to garbage collectors during the pandemic out of their development funds.

Waste collectors, according to EcoWaste Coalition, are among the essential workers who face high risks while providing waste management services
during the health crisis.

It noted that the DILG and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had earlier issued a joint memorandum circular allowing local governments to use 20 percent of their development funds to respond to the new coronavirus pandemic.

This, however, did not specify the provision of hazard pay to garbage collectors as an allowable expense, it said.

“We urge the DILG, in coordination with the DBM, to further unlock the restrictions on the use of local development fund to give local governments the flexibility to provide appropriate hazard pay to garbage collectors,” Ecowaste zero-waste campaigner Jove Benosa said.

EcoWaste had written to Budget Assistant Secretary Achilles Gerard Bravo about the matter, and he responded by saying that collectors employed by companies contracted by local governments are not considered government personnel.

The private contractor or service providers, Bravo wrote, can instead grant a similar pay to their employees.

But Ecowaste said the government should give waste collectors, regardless of their employment status, what is due them to recognize the crucial role that they play despite the health and security risks.

Indispensable

“Without their indispensable service, we may be faced with even more environmental and health hazards from uncollected waste,” the group said.

The Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 provides that all collectors should be equipped with personal protective equipment to protect them from the hazards of handling waste, but this is hardly followed. It is silent on their pay and benefits.

Navotas lauded

EcoWaste also lauded the Navotas City government for passing an ordinance that grants a daily hazard pay to its regular, contractual and casual employees, including contract-of-service or job-order workers, who physically report to work during the quarantine period.

Ordinance No. 2020-10, which was sponsored by all councilors, sought to provide a hazard pay of P500 per day to the workers. The funds will be sourced from the city’s 2020 supplemental budget.

Among the recipients are doctors, nurses and staff members of Navotas City Hospital and the city health office, skeleton forces at government offices, and garbage collectors, street sweepers and utility personnel.

“Navotas sets a good example for other LGUs to follow,” said Sonia Mendoza, chair of the Mother Earth Foundation.