DILG wants Cainta mayor Nieto to explain alleged delayed hazard pay, special risk allowances to frontliners

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Friday said it is set to issue a show cause order against Cainta Mayor Kit Nieto over the alleged delayed release of hazard pay and special risk allowance to qualified personnel.

This includes the hazard pay of Ma. Theresa Cruz, a nurse in Cainta Municipal Hospital who died due to COVID-19. The agency earlier investigated the supposed reduction of Cruz's hazard pay.

In a press statement, DILG spokesperson Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said the legal service of the agency found out that all benefits due Cruz have been given by the LGU, however, “there is indeed a considerable delay in the release of such benefits to the qualified personnel of the local government unit.”

"Our legal service found that based on the disbursement vouchers of the LGU, both the hazard pay and special risk allowance for the months of March, April, and May 2020 were released to concerned personnel only on August 5, 2020," Malaya said.

Due to this, the legal service recommended the issuance of show cause order against Nieto, requiring him to explain in writing and under oath why no administrative case should be filed against him for the "inexcusable delay" in the release of hazard pay and special risk allowance to Cruz and other personnel.

"We shall issue the said Show Cause Order against the mayor of Cainta in due course," Malaya said.

"In the meantime, we wish to assure the public that the DILG is committed to ensuring the health and well-being of all medical front liners in all local government units as well as in our uniformed services," he added.

GMA News Online has reached out to Nieto for comment on the matter.

Malaya vowed that the DILG would immediately act on all reports of mistreatment, discrimination, unsafe working conditions, as well as delay in the provision of benefits for health workers.

"The success of our fight against COVID, our on-going ability to flatten the curve, and the continuing decreasing trend in the number of active cases is anchored in our country’s ability to take care of our medical front-liners who are at the front and center of the battle against the global pandemic," Malaya said.—AOL, GMA News