Health workers from different government hospitals held a ‘sit-down protest’ action and noise barrage at the Department of Health (DOH) gate along Rizal Avenue in Manila on June 30.
The extension of Bayanihan 2, the government COVID-19 response and recovery program, ended on June 30 with their benefits under this law unpaid. Among these benefits were the meal, accommodation, and transportation (MAT) allowance, special risk allowance (SRA), and COVID-19 hazard pay.
“Today is the last day of Bayanihan 2 and yet, we are still fighting and calling the DOH to immediately release our hard-earned benefits,” said Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) national president Robert Mendoza.
In the past weeks prior to the expiration of the law, health workers have been holding protest actions to call the government’s attention to their unpaid benefits.
AHW sent a letter to President Rodrigo Duterte last June 25 seeking immediate intervention and action regarding health workers’ issues and concerns.
“To date, we still [have] not received our meal, accommodation, and transportation benefits. Worse, our hospital budget and finance officers said that DOH will only return back the funds for our meal, accommodation benefit but only 30% of the P56 million funds that they recalled from our hospital (Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center),” said Cristy Donguines, President, Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center Employees Union-Alliance of Health Workers (JRRMMCEU-AHW).
Donguines said they are “strongly demanding the DOH to fully release the P38,000 per health worker allotment for meal, accommodation and transportation benefit.”
“We have suffered more than enough and we are extremely demoralized. We don’t deserve to beg for these benefits as these were already provided by law in due recognition of our historical role in battling this pandemic,” said Donguines.
She reminded the government how many health workers have been infected or passed due to COVID-19 in the line of work, many without even enjoying the benefits they deserved or were promised.
“We are very frustrated and angry with the DOH, the agency that is primarily mandated to look after our rights, protection, and welfare. This is indeed a clear manifestation that the DOH and the Duterte administration are abandoning their role and responsibility to protect us,” said Mendoza.
The group demanded DOH Sec. Francisco Duque to resign from his post due to “gross incompetence and neglect.”
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said there were P64.9 billion unused funds under Bayanihan 2.
Republic Act 11494 or Bayanihan 2 was enacted on September 2020 and was set to expire on December 12 last year but was extended.
The Department of Education led agencies with the biggest unobligated funds, worth P1.744 billion out of P4 billion allotted for the implementation of distance education, including the printing and delivery of self-learning modules.
It was followed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development with P1.294 billion out of P6 billion appropriated for subsidies for emergency aid for those placed under lockdown, food and non-food items, livelihood assistance, and feeding program among others.
Selective special risk allowance
Meanwhile, health workers welcomed the order for budget release for their SRA benefit. On June 28, the DBM allotted P9 billion for health workers’ SRA, covering the period from December 20, 2020 to June 30, 2021 as mandated under Administrative Order No. 42 signed by Duterte on June 1.
However, health workers assailed that granting of said benefit is “selective and divisive among our ranks because only those with direct contact with COVID-19 patients are eligible to receive the said benefit.”
“[The SRA] should be given equally to all health workers assigned in public and private hospitals, laboratories, and health facilities regardless of the nature of their work in their respective workplaces. More so, SRA should not be computed as pro-rated or according to the number of duty-days that health worker reports for work but rather be computed per month,” said Mendoza.
All claims for the payment of the SRA to public and private health workers shall be validated by the DOH.
