Senators are in agreement that the country’s health workers deserve to receive a higher salary and be paid their benefits for their role in the government’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
But lawmakers cannot say if the government has sufficient funds to agree to their demands of a monthly minimum pay of P33,000 and their call to be paid for the duties they rendered during the height of the pandemic.
Senator Risa Hontiveros recalled that during the deliberations on the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023, the Department of Health (DOH) made a commitment to ensure full implementation of the mandated Salary Grade (SG)-15 (P35,097) base pay for government nurses and to pay the benefits due to the country’s healthcare workers.
Hontiveros also said the DOH has been urged to look into its unobligated funds for this year and to realign them for payment of unpaid claims of the healthcare workers.
“Makakaasa ang ating mga kamanggagawa sa sektor ng kalusugan na kaisa nila tayo sa loob ng Senado sa pagsusulong at pagtataguyod ng makataong pasahod at makatarungang benepisyo (Our colleagues in the health sector can count on us to join them in the Senate in promoting and promoting humane wages and fair benefits),” Hontiveros said on Friday, November 25.
“Sa gitna ng krisis at inflation, deserve ng lahat ang wage increase (In the midst of crisis and inflation, everyone deserves a wage increase). It's high time that the government reviewed the position, classification, and compensation scheme for the healthcare workers mula doktor hanggang barangay health and nutrition workers),” she said.
“Our healthcare workers should rightfully be compensated while ensuring that wage gaps between and among public and private healthcare workers and in national and local settings are addressed,” added the senator.
On Thursday, November 24, members of unions under the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) marched to the DOH head office in Manila and staged a noise barrage to demand a P33,000 monthly minimum wage for both the public and private medical workers. The group also pressed for the immediate release of their COVID-19 allowances.
Asked about the issue, Sen. Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance pointed out that the law that was passed in 2021—the Healthcare Workers Benefits Law—made the payment of benefits to them retroactive.
So the government was in arrears at that point and there was no funding in the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA), according to Angara.
Then Republic Act No. 11712 or the Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances for Health Care Workers Act, which was signed into law on April 27, 2022, expanded the coverage to include outsourced personnel and other personnel involved in COVID-19 response.
The law also includes a retroactive application from July 1, 2021, but the senator said the new total number of eligible workers now is at 805,863.
For 2023, Angara said that of the P141.20-billion funding requirements, P77.92-billion is funded, while the remaining P63.27-billion is unfunded. Under the funded, P24.96-billion is under the DOH’s Office of the Secretary while P52.96-billion is unprogrammed appropriations.
“Note that for 2022, there are also funds allocated for that purpose,” he said, referring to the compensation and other benefits for COVID-19 workers in health facilities which is at P51-billion.
Asked why the P63.27-billion remains an unfunded, Angara said: “Kulang pa din (It’s still not enough).”
Angara said the state can grant the healthworkers demands for a salary hike “only if the government can pay and sustain it long-term.”
“Otherwise, it is like a false promise or false hope,” he pointed out.
Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito said he also agrees that health workers deserve the pay hike: “(It) should be because of inflationary considerations.”
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, who has been questioning the lump sum appropriations in the proposed 2023 national budget and the huge amount of allocations for confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) of some executive agencies, also pointed to the availability of unprogrammed appropriations under the proposed 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA) to fund the cost of the healthworkers’ demands.
The total unprogrammed appropriations under the 2023 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) is at P588-billion, Pimentel pointed out.
“Nasa unprogrammed appropriations of the 2023 GAA ang health care workers benefits (The health care workers benefits are in the unprogrammed appropriations of the 2023 GAA). Hence, this is contingent to funds being available next year. Kasama na dyan ang ‘accrued’ or utang sa kanila (That includes the 'accrued' or debt owed to them),” Pimentel said.
But when asked if the whole amount of unprogrammed funds can be used to cover the payments for the whole 2023 and those unpaid over the past two years, Pimentel said “no.”
“No. There are about 10 components for the unprogrammed...and that includes DOTr (Department of Transportation) projects, AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) modernization, senior citizens’ pension, etc.” the minority leader said.