TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA) — For the first time after a long series of administrations, the Provincial Government is now seriously looking at sweetening the pot for its thousands of support workers that are not regular employees but are critical in its over-all service delivery.
This as the Sangguniang Panlalawigan as a whole, has asked the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to formally present the details of its Group Personal Accident Insurance (GPAI), for the Capitol leadership to finally decide on how to add more premiums to the thousands of job order (JOs) and contractual workers that churn the cogs of government.
In fact, for this administration led by Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado and Vice Governor Tita Baja, it wants the presentation be also done to the Governor, members of the Provincial Local Finance Committee, City Government of Tagbilaran, League of Municipalities of the Philippines – Bohol, Philippine Councilors League, and the Liga ng mga Barangay, seeing the potential of giving out insurance benefits for these workers.
This formal presentation should “ensure the widest dissemination of this valuable insurance coverage across all relevant local government units and officials,” according to the SP Committee on Social Services under Board Member Lucille Lagunay.
And if this was to happen this year, beneficiaries would have the Provincial Ecological Solid Waste Management Board (PESWMB) to thank for.
It was the PESWMB in its Resolution No. 1, Series of 2024, which asked the Sangguniang Panlalawigan through Board Member Jiselle Rae Aumentado Villamor, Committee on Environment chair, to legislate an ordinance mandating the Municipal Local Government Units (MLGUs) to enroll their Job Order Workers performing the Solid Waste Management (SWM) functions in the GSIS group insurance, the premiums to be charged to the town’s Disaster and Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) and other LGU funds.
In the case of the PESWMB, it acknowledges the risks associated with waste collection, sorting, segregating garbage and routinely exposing them to wide range of hazards.
Job Order (JO) workers, who perform critical waste management functions are exposed to a range of toxic and hazardous materials, sharps, and infectious wastes, and yet while they risk themselves daily, they could hardly pay for insurance benefits when they fall ill.
Also crucial to the move is for LGUs to allocate a portion of their LDRRM funds for insurance coverage for SWM workers.
The board also sees that by prioritizing the protection of essential workers, LGUs can ensure that frontline services are supported, secured and included in the provincial government’s commitment to health, safety, and environmental sustainability.
As to the SP Committee’s investigations, there are already some 21 local government units across Bohol which have initiated the move to get their non-regular workers some kind of insurance.
Antequera for example, uses fund from the sales of their recyclable materials recovered to pay for the group insurance of 18 emergency responders.
While some LGUS have to singularly spend from their own funds to pay from the insurance premiums of their workers, Dauis however led in adopting the GSIS GPAI to secure their employees exposed to health risks in their line of duty.
As to their findings, the premiums under the GPAI program can be highly flexible, from as low as P50 for P50,000 insurance coverage to a P2,750 for coverage of P5,000,000.
With the program, the SP can only marvel at the innovation and wants all decision makers in government to see the benefits and start off their respective non-regular worker’s group insurance. (RAHC/PIA_7/Bohol)
