Senator Joel Villanueva urged on Wednesday, April 28, the government to include perks for health workers in its programs set for Labor Day.

“Given today’s circumstances, I think that should be a major plank of the traditional May 1 announcement by Malacañang,” the chairman of the Senate labor committee said in a statement.

Villanueva was referring to the government's tradition of unveiling pro-labor programs and projects on the holiday honoring workers.

“Ang pakiusap po natin sa Palasyo, sa Mayo Uno ay unahin po natin ang mga manggagawa sa kalusugan (Our appeal to the Palace for May 1 is to prioritize our workers in the health sector),” the senator said, stressing the “obvious fact that healthcare workers are essential to our country’s survival.”

The senator specifically asked the Department of Labor and Employment's (DOLE) and the Department of Health (DOH) to come up “with a package of new and expanded benefits for public health workers for the President to announce on Labor Day.”

“Even before coronavirus struck, the pay and allowances of government health workers were already ripe for an adjustment. The pandemic made this upgrade more urgent. Hazardous work must be properly compensated,” Villanueva explained.

He noted that the base pay of government health workers was set by the most recent Salary Standardization Law; while their other allowances, such as overtime pay, night shift differential, hazard allowance, subsistence allowance, longevity pay, laundry allowance and remote assignment allowance, were spelled out in Republic Act No. 7305 or the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers.

Under the Bayanihan laws, health workers in the public sector were also entitled to a Special Risk Allowance.

Health workers have staged various protests to demand the release of their benefits such as hazard pay, special risk allowance, as well as meals, transportation, and accommodation allowances.

A total of P13.5 billion was allocated for the provision of these benefits under the "Bayanihan to Recover as One Act" or Bayanihan 2, which also includes as the continuous employment and hiring of emergency human resource for health and augmentation of DOH hospitals.

Villanueva said compensation of health workers, with priority given to those performing “actual frontline duty,” must be increased “including what our frontline Barangay Health Workers are getting.”

He said health workers in the country’s 932 private hospitals and 315 private infirmaries should be also be considered in the government's Labor Day package.

“We call on the government to provide subsidies to frontliners in private health institutions. Nothing in the law prohibits the grant of such,” he surmised.

For Labor Day, the government plans to vaccinate 5,000 minimum wage earners in a "symbolic inoculation ceremony".

The DOLE will also be launching online job fairs with over 20,000 local and overseas vacancies.