Add’l aid given to QC fire victims

From P10,000, Quezon City Hall employees who lost their homes in a fire will now get P30,000 financial assistance from the city government, a Sangguniang Panlunsod ordinance showed.

The city council led by its presiding officer, Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, passed the measure adjusting the amount of cash aid to city officials and employees whose houses were gutted by fire.

City officials have reasoned out the P10,000 cash assistance is no longer sufficient to help the displaced city hall personnel.

Authored by 1st District Rep. Elizabeth Delarmente, the new ordinance effectively amended Ordinance No. SP-723 passed in 1998 granting P10,000 financial assistance to city government officials and rank-and-file employees victimized by fire.

“It has been 19 years since this ordinance was passed and considering the length of time, the cost of living has risen and P10,000 is not enough to rebuild the life of a fire victim,” Belmonte told the Daily Tribune in a phone conversation.

Quoting Delarmente’s ordinance, she said “it is imperative that the financial assistance be increased to give the fire victims the funds to rise up from the calamity.”

The ordinance covers all appointed officials and employees of the city government, irrespective of the status of their appointment.

It also mandated the city government to set aside P1 billion from its P19-billion budget for 2018 and in the succeeding years to cover the financial aid measure.

At present, there are 16,011 employees–5,138 permanent and 10,873 under Contract of Service–at the Quezon City Hall and other field agencies and offices.

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