SP urges LGUS to allocate

livestock aides’ honoraria

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, (PIA)— Talibon town appears to be most generous and most appreciative to the hard work of its quasi-veterinary volunteers with its P2,500 monthly honorarium to its Barangay Livestock Aides (BALA) or Bohol’s innovative livestock assistants as a service delivery mechanism to the barangays.

The information surfaced from an Office of the Provincial Veterinarian (OPV) report which showed that aside from the P300 per month which Capitol gives as honorarium given per semester, BALAs from 18 towns do not get any additional honorarium from LGUS while Talibon affords a motivating incentive.

An innovation that has earned Bohol a Galing Pook Award, the BALA was conceptualized in 1997, to fill in the gap of the underserved livestock sector with a livestock aide for every barangay, one who trained to establish actual disease occurrence in the area, make a realistic barangay livestock profile, design a workable animal vaccination and deworming program and administer drugs under the supervision of the municipal livestock technician or licensed veterinarians.

As trained force multiplier for the veterinarians which Bohol desperately lacked in the past, BALAs have proven to be effective in Bohol’s prevention and control of Foot and Mouth Disease, Avian Influenza, and the African Swine Fever lately.

Other than Talibon, towns that give a good P1,000 monthly incentive to BALAs include Panglao, Anda and Jagna, while the rest give from P550 (Carmen), P500 (Sierra Bullones) to P200 per month.

Other towns have also creative ways of motivating the livestock by allocating some amounts for their livelihood assistance to the local quasi-veterinary volunteers.

On the other hand, towns that have yet to give financial support to BALAs include Corella, Cortes, Maribojoc, Sikatuna and Tubigon for the first district; Dagohoy, Getafe, Inabanga, Pres Carlos P. Garcia, Sagbayan, san Miguel and Trinidad for the second district; and Bilar, Dimiao, Duero, Lila, Loay and Valencia for the Third District.

Based on data collected by the OPV, only 29 out of 48 municipalities—or about 60%—provide financial support for BALAs.

To this, a board member brought up the issue of giving the BALA some form of additional honorarium as acknowledgement of the volunteers’ strong commitment to supporting livestock development.

Given that the services of BALAs are purely voluntary, providing them with an honorarium serves as recognition of their significant contributions to the local agricultural sector, as they serve as vital links between the community and agricultural resources. This financial recognition not only motivates BALAs to perform their duties more effectively but also strengthens their commitment to improving livestock management practices within their barangays, reasoned out Board member Aldner Damalerio, during a regular session at the SP a while back.

To this, members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan subscribes that by recognizing and compensating the efforts of BALAs, the Local Government Unit can promote a more efficient and sustainable livestock industry, ultimately benefitting the economy and ensuring food security within the community.

In this light, the Committee strongly recommends for the passage of a resolution urging all Local Government Units in Bohol to allocate funding for the BALA honorarium in their respective barangays.

By institutionalizing this support across all municipalities, LGUs can ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of livestock programs that directly benefit local farmers and the agricultural sector, Damalerio noted. (RAHC/PIA7/Bohol)

SHOT IN THE ARMS. Motivating the BALAs by giving them incentives could ensure the sustainability of livestock programs here, the SP has urged town governments to allocate funds for BALA incentives. (PIABohol fotofiles)