Thousands of Philippine General Hospital (PGH) health workers will finally receive their hazard pay and allowances, which have been stalled for about seven months.

The All U.P. (University of the Philippines) Workers Union-Manila made the announcement in a statement and credited their recent picket and Black Friday protest in November as "the key" to release of the workers' benefits.

"Nagpupunyagi tayo sa All UP Workers Union-Manila sa tagumpay na ito. Hindi maitatanggi na ang 2 matagumpay na pagkilos...ay naging susi upang matugunan ang kakulangan sa pondo para sa mga benepisyo na ito, at gayundin ay mabigyan ng atensyon ang di katanggap-tanggap na pagkaka-antala ng pagbibigay ng mga benepisyong ito (We celebrate this success. It cannot be denied that our two successful protests prompted officials to work on the issues of lack of funds and give attention to the reasons why these benefits were stalled) ," the group said in a statement.

"Naging kakampi natin sa pagtatanong ang iba pang mga kapatid nating health workers at ramdam natin ang suporta ng malawak na mamamayan sa ating laban upang singilin ang ipinangakong mga benepisyo sa ating mga tinuturing na 'bayani' sa panahon ng pandemya (Our fellow health workers and advocate groups joined us in our fight to claim the promised benefits which have been denied the so-called ‘heroes’ during this pandemic)," the group said.

"May mga mambabatas din tayong sumuporta at naghain ng mga resolusyon ukol dito (There were also lawmakers who expressed support and filed resolutions about our concern)," they added.

Unreimbursed PhilHealth funds and "unfavorable" action from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had reportedly led to the stalled release of hazard pay and Special Risk Allowance of PGH health workers, Gerardo Legaspi, the group’s director claimed in a recent letter.

According to the group's communication officer, Jet Garcia, about 4,275 health workers would be affected if management was not able to address their concern.