Navotas City government employees will receive P10,000 bonus this Christmas, Mayor Toby Tiangco announced Monday.
Together with Vice Mayor Clint Geronimo and members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, Tiangco signed City Ordinance 2019-27 and 28, granting a one-time “Angat Navotas” economic assistance and service recognition incentive.
Among the beneficiaries are regular, casual, contractual and job-order employees of the city government and the teaching personnel of Navotas Polytechnic College.
Meanwhile, bereaved families in Navotas no longer have to bear the brunt of funeral expenses, as the city government now offers complete cremation services for poor Navoteños.
The service is part of the city’s “libreng libing” (free burial) program, as Tiangco said it will help lessen the burden of indigent families and address the lack of burial space in the NavoHimlayan public cemetery.
“We all worked hard to achieve, if not exceed, the goals we have set this year. It is only right that we recognize your contribution towards the continued progress of our city,” Tiangco said.
Navotas has received a number of awards and recognitions in 2019, including the Seal of Good Local Governance, a Commission on Audit unqualified opinion, the Seal of Good Education Governance, and Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance.
The city, through the Navotas City Hospital and City Health Office, was also conferred the Silver Trailblazer Award and PhilHealth Strong Partner in Health Service Delivery. It was also recognized for having the best programs in oral health, tuberculosis control, and lifestyle-related diseases prevention and control.
Navotas scored perfectly in the 2018 Anti-Drug Abuse Council Performance Audit for Highly Urbanized Cities. The DILG-National Capital Region gave the city an “Ideal” rating for its exemplary efforts in eradicating the problem of illegal drugs.
“The Christmas bonus we received came from the taxes that Navoteños paid the city government. In return, let us show them our gratitude through continued genuine public service and excellent governance,” Tiangco stressed.
“While we will be generous in giving benefits, we will also be strict in ensuring that employees deliver services in a highly professional, efficient and corrupt-free manner,” he said.
The city government will not shirk from its duty of meting out disciplinary actions to erring employees, the mayor added.
“Funeral expenses can deplete an indigent family’s resources and force them to borrow money from friends or loan facilities. Through the ‘libreng libing’ program, we hope to provide the poor a proper and dignified eternal rest,” he said.
Last Friday, three families availed of the city’s “libreng libing” program. They were given free urns and free use of the NavoHimlayan chapels, crematorium and columbarium vaults, and were also given the option to take home the urn containing the ashes.
To avail of the program, surviving family members must submit the death certificate of the deceased; certificate of indigency from the barangay and the City Social Welfare and Development Office; and proof that either the deceased, or his/her parents or heirs are registered voters in Navotas.
Only “libreng libing” beneficiaries could avail of the free services of the NavoHimlayan. Beneficiaries, on the other hand, shall consent to the cremation of their departed loved ones.
NavoHimlayan services are also available to paying clients, both residents or non-residents of Navotas.
City Ordinance 2019-11 states that the NavoHimlayan will charge P1,500 per day for the use of its funeral chapel and P300 per hour if the chapel will be used for mass celebrations only.
Cremation services also cost P12,000 to P18,000. Senior citizens and persons with disability will be given 20 percent discount and an additional 10 percent if they are bonafide Navoteños.
Navoteños, who are neither senior citizens nor PWDs, are qualified to get 10 percent discount.
As for columbarium services, the city government will charge P12,000 to P15,000 for vaults at the perimeter wall and P20,000 to P29,000 for vaults at the second and third floor of the NavoHimlayan.
The rent for the vaults may be paid in cash or by installment for five years, and may be renewed after 25 years.
An annual fee of P1,500 shall also be paid for the maintenance of the columbary vaults.