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Solon urges Herbosa to settle the P12.57-B unpaid Covid-19 pay of healthcare workers
Philippines
National
Solon urges Herbosa to settle the P12.57-B unpaid Covid-19 pay of healthcare workers
Solon urges Herbosa to settle the P12.57-B unpaid Covid-19 pay of healthcare workers
Published Jun 12, 2023 01:58 am
With Secretary Teodoro "Ted" Herbosa now as Department of Health (DOH) chief, Camarines Sur Representative Luis Raymunnd “LRay” Villafuerte said he hopes healthcare workers (HCWs) and non-HCWs who played a crucial role during the Covid-19 pandemic will finally receive their unpaid health emergency allowances.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund "LRay" Villafuerte (Facebook photo)
For a start, Villafuerte said Herbosa settles the issue about the P12.57-billion-worth of health emergency allowances that the medical frontliners have yet to receive but which the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) claimed had been released already to the DOH. “We hope that newly-appointed Secretary Ted (Herbosa), who is a longtimer in the healthcare sector, would deliver on his promise to give priority to looking into the still-unpaid Covid-19 allowances—and get to the bottom of what happened to the P12.5 billion in Covid-19 allowances that the DBM claimed to have released to the DOH months back but which have yet to be handed out by the health department to the intended beneficiary-HCWs and non-HCWs, as provided by law,” Villafuerte said in a statement on Monday, June 12. “We want to know soon enough from the new Secretary when the DOH is going to release the balance of about P12.57 billion from the P19.96 billion in Covid-19 benefits and allowances of HCWs and non-HCWs for their medical services rendered to our people at the height of the pandemic that the DBM claimed to have released already to the health department,” he added. “I assume Dr. Herbosa, as a medical frontliner himself, will agree with me that it doesn’t make sense that for all their life-saving efforts at the height of the pandemic, our HCWs and non-HCWs in hospitals and other health institutions have yet to receive the emergency allowances due them up this time when the WHO (World Health Organization) had already declared this global public health emergency as over,” the lawmaker further said. Aside from HCWs, the emergency allowance benefits also cover frontliners who are non-healthcare workers (non-HCWs), including those rendering medical, allied medical, administrative, technical, and support services in hospitals, health facilities, laboratories, medical or temporary treatment and monitoring facilities, and vaccination sites. Last month, the DBM said the agency had already released P19.96-billion to the DOH to pay for the public health emergency benefits and allowances of HCWs and non-HCWs, in accordance with Republic Act No. 11469 or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” and RA 11712 or the “Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowance for Health Care Workers Act.” Of the P19.96-billion funds that were released, the DOH said it has already utilized P7.39-billion as of March 31, 2023. "Rest assured that we will continue to coordinate with the DOH to ensure that the released funds will be disbursed accordingly,” the DBM said. With the DBM’s claim, Villafuerte said it is necessary to find out where the balance of P12.57-billion, released by the DBM for the payment of arrears in emergency benefits and allowances due our HCWs and non-HCWs, had gone. “This is something that the newly-appointed DOH Secretary needs to look into,” the solon said.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund "LRay" Villafuerte (Facebook photo)
For a start, Villafuerte said Herbosa settles the issue about the P12.57-billion-worth of health emergency allowances that the medical frontliners have yet to receive but which the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) claimed had been released already to the DOH. “We hope that newly-appointed Secretary Ted (Herbosa), who is a longtimer in the healthcare sector, would deliver on his promise to give priority to looking into the still-unpaid Covid-19 allowances—and get to the bottom of what happened to the P12.5 billion in Covid-19 allowances that the DBM claimed to have released to the DOH months back but which have yet to be handed out by the health department to the intended beneficiary-HCWs and non-HCWs, as provided by law,” Villafuerte said in a statement on Monday, June 12. “We want to know soon enough from the new Secretary when the DOH is going to release the balance of about P12.57 billion from the P19.96 billion in Covid-19 benefits and allowances of HCWs and non-HCWs for their medical services rendered to our people at the height of the pandemic that the DBM claimed to have released already to the health department,” he added. “I assume Dr. Herbosa, as a medical frontliner himself, will agree with me that it doesn’t make sense that for all their life-saving efforts at the height of the pandemic, our HCWs and non-HCWs in hospitals and other health institutions have yet to receive the emergency allowances due them up this time when the WHO (World Health Organization) had already declared this global public health emergency as over,” the lawmaker further said. Aside from HCWs, the emergency allowance benefits also cover frontliners who are non-healthcare workers (non-HCWs), including those rendering medical, allied medical, administrative, technical, and support services in hospitals, health facilities, laboratories, medical or temporary treatment and monitoring facilities, and vaccination sites. Last month, the DBM said the agency had already released P19.96-billion to the DOH to pay for the public health emergency benefits and allowances of HCWs and non-HCWs, in accordance with Republic Act No. 11469 or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” and RA 11712 or the “Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowance for Health Care Workers Act.” Of the P19.96-billion funds that were released, the DOH said it has already utilized P7.39-billion as of March 31, 2023. "Rest assured that we will continue to coordinate with the DOH to ensure that the released funds will be disbursed accordingly,” the DBM said. With the DBM’s claim, Villafuerte said it is necessary to find out where the balance of P12.57-billion, released by the DBM for the payment of arrears in emergency benefits and allowances due our HCWs and non-HCWs, had gone. “This is something that the newly-appointed DOH Secretary needs to look into,” the solon said.