Health workers of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) are demanding their administration for the release of their hazard pay and allowances, which have allegedly been stalled for six months now.
Several PGH workers and members of All UP Workers Union-Manila held a picket at the PGH atrium on Friday afternoon "to denounce" the alleged "ineptness of the PGH Administration to provide the long-awaited COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) benefits."
"For how many months now, our Union has been asking for a dialogue with PGH Director Gerardo D.Legaspi but he remained numb to our request," Karen Mae Faurillo, the union’s newly-elected president, said in a statement.
According to the union's statement, the health workers demanded for the release of P500/day COVID-19 Hazard Pay to all health workers, which was stated under Administrative Order (AO) No. 26 issued by Malacañang on March 23, 2020.
"The said AO authorizes the grant of Hazard Pay to government personnel who physically report for work during the period of implementation of an Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) relative to the COVID-19 outbreak. The PGH Administration has not released the said benefit to the health workers," the group said.
It added that aside from the hazard pay, the health workers also demanded for their Special Risk Allowance (SRA), which was granted by Malacañang in April through an administrative order.
"It has been six months of waiting! These benefits were supposedly a recognition to our heroic and invaluable contribution as we bravely and unselfishly risk our lives and health to be at the forefront in addressing COVID-19," Faurillo said.
"Our health workers are already feeling the fatigue by this prolonged pandemic. Delaying further our benefits will demoralize us more. How long do we need to endure? These should be released now," she added.