Repub of he Philippines DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT DILG-NAPOLGOM Con, EDSA caer Quezon Avene, West Tangle, Quezon Cay his wm ig. gove8 DILG OPINION No. 28 5, an it MR. REYNALDO M. GUMABON 23 OCT 2017 Sangguniang Barangay Member Barangay 33, Zone 3, District 2 Caloocan City Dear Mr. Gumabon: ‘This has reference to your letter dated 10 August 2017 requesting for the Department's legal opinion on the withholding of your monthly honorarium. You have indicated in your letter that because your name was implicated in the alleged illegal drug trade within your community through an email addressed to the Office of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and due to several serious threats you have received from the drug syndicate, as well as drug personalities; hence, up to this date you have not attended any scheduled Sangguniang Barangay sessions and meetings. At the onset, please be advised that under DILG Legal Opinion No. 16, series of 2007, this Department has a settled rule that a barangay government can validly withhold the honorarium of a Sangguniang Barangay Member who failed to render actual services due to his unauthorized absences from the Sanggunian session. Quoted hereunder are the relevant portion of the said legal opinion: In reply to your first query, please be informed that with or without the agreement, a Sangguniang Barangay Member may be legally deprived of his honorarium by reason of his unauthorized absences, It bears to note that under DBM Local Budget Circular No. 63, in relation to Section 392 of the Local Government Code, Sangguniang Barangay Members are paid in the form of honorarium, Corollary thereto, the Government Accounting and Auditing Manual defines honorarium as that remuneration given to a public official for services actually rendered. Hence the grant of honorarium is based principally on services actually rendered by the claimant thereof. Accordingly, other than other certain factors, the most convenient way of measuring the services actually rendered by a Sangguniang Barangay Member is attendance in sessions. Under the Local Government Code, SangguniangBarangays are mandated to conduct two sessions a month. The honorarium can, therefore, be divided into two parts, each representing each session. Hence, ifa Sangguniang Barangay Member will absent himself from sessions, he is not entitled to receive the proportionate amount of honorarium for services actually rendered. If he will be absent in both sessions for one month, then he can be deprived of his total honorarium for that month. (Emphasis supplied) It must be emphasized that although you have intimated before this Department that you have not attended any sanggunian session and meeting because you have received serious threats against your life due to the alleged involvement with the illegal drug trade within your community and has been in hiding for some time now, however such reason is not legally justifiable for you not to attend the said sessions and meetings. To justify your absences, you should have filed or applied for a leave of absence, With the above discussions, this Department opines that due to your unauthorized absences from the Sanggunian sessions and meetings, it warrants the deprivation of your monthly honorarium, ‘We hope to have enlightened you on the matter. Very truly yours, By Authority of the Secretary: AUSETERE A. PANADERO Undersecretary 1 Leahy ofr DIR. MARIA LOURDES L. AGUSTIN, CESO IV DILG-—NCR 4 floor, Annex Bldg. ~ SRA Center, Diliman, QC.