BACOLOD City – The city council here, through a resolution, requested President Rodrigo Duterte and the Department of Interior and Local Government to provide allowances for Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs).
BHERTs are “risking their lives 24/7” on the frontlines amid the threat of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran.
Currently, Familiaran said BHERTs’ allowances are provided by their respective barangays.
“Ila allowances depende sa capacity to pay sang kada barangay. Indi sila palarehas,” Familiaran said.
Bacolod has around 800 BHERTs.
The council also passed a resolution ratifying the memorandum of agreement between this city and the Department of Health in Region 6 for the granting of Special Risk Allowance (SRA) to healthcare workers.
According to Familiaran, only healthcare workers assigned in COVID-19 isolation facilities are qualified to receive the benefits.
Familiaran did not disclose the amount they will be receiving, but it will cover the “period from December 2020 to April 2021.”
“More than a hundred of the healthcare workers are expected to avail themselves of the SRA,” said Familiaran./PN
