AFTER a barangay chairman was shot dead while livestreaming on Facebook, Las Piñas Rep. Mark Anthony Santos has filed a bill seeking to provide social security coverage and additional benefits—including hazard pay—to all barangay officials and workers nationwide.
The proposed measure (HB 2004), titled “An Act Providing Social Security and Additional Benefits to All Barangay Officials and Workers, Including Hazard Pay,” aims to institutionalize a comprehensive benefits package for all elected and appointed barangay personnel.
Santos’ bill mandates mandatory Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) social security coverage, PhilHealth enrollment, Pag-IBIG Fund membership, and hazard pay for personnel involved in disaster response, community safety, and emergency operations.
The bill also provides retirement benefits for long-serving officials and workers, accident and disability insurance, and medical and hospitalization assistance. It further seeks to strengthen barangay capacity through mandated training and professional development programs.
The filing comes after a series of violent attacks against barangay officials.
In Digos City, Davao del Sur, Barangay Captain Dodong Bucol of Tres de Mayo was shot dead Tuesday afternoon while livestreaming on Facebook. Bucol had been assisting a resident who reported a lost identification card when a loud gunshot was heard mid-livestream.
The video, now circulating online, shows him running and shouting for help as multiple shots followed.
In Pampanga, Jinky Quiambao, 43, chief of Barangay Balibago, was killed and another official wounded in an ambush in Masantol town on Monday. Quiambao was declared dead on arrival due to a gunshot wound to the head, while Enrique Yamat, 54, chief of Barangay Nigui, sustained a gunshot wound to the hand.
“For decades, our barangay officials and workers have served as the government’s frontliners—during disasters, emergencies, peace and order operations, and community health crises,” Santos said. “Yet many continue to work without adequate protection, sufficient benefits, or hazard compensation. This bill seeks to correct that injustice.”
Santos emphasized that barangay personnel shoulder critical responsibilities yet lack the safeguards provided to national government employees.
“They maintain peace and order, respond to calamities, manage health concerns, resolve conflicts, and assist their constituents around the clock,” he said. “It is unacceptable that those who protect our communities continue to operate without proper security and benefits.”
He added that the COVID-19 pandemic and recent natural disasters further highlighted the vulnerability of barangay workers, who regularly face high-risk situations with limited resources.
“If our barangay tanods, health workers, and frontliners are expected to risk their lives, then the government must guarantee their safety and welfare,” Santos said.
Under the Local Government Code of 1991, barangay officials are compensated only through honoraria—at least P1,000 per month for the Punong Barangay and P600 per month for Sangguniang Barangay members, as well as the barangay treasurer and secretary.
