Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte on Wednesday backed District 1 Councilor Victor Ferrer Jr.’s initiative to grant higher rice subsidy and longevity pay for over 8,000 regular city hall employees to cushion the impact of inflation.
“We need to make sure our city employees have a decent living. In light of the rising prices of goods, we want to start by helping with the most basic commodity”•rice,” she said.
The 37-member city council passed Ordinance No. 2727 increasing the quarterly rice subsidy from P1,500 to P2,000.
The assistance is “in consonance with the city government’s desire to alleviate the economic plight of its own workers from the widespread crisis and prolonged high-cost of rice,” the measure read.
According to Ferrer, the subsidy will be given at the end of every quarter.
Ordinance No. 2728 also adjusted the longevity pay from P200 for every five years of service to P300 for the same period. Ferrer authored both measures.
According to Belmonte, career civil service employees “deserve to be rewarded financially by the virtue of their loyalty and dedication to public duty.”
“Incentives such as this help us reduce corruption by making sure that the public servants in Quezon City are well-compensated,” she said.