Hontiveros wants a Senate investigation into the late release of a special allocation for COVID-19 borderlands

MANILA – Senator Risa Hontiveros introduced a resolution seeking to investigate the late release of a special risk allowance for healthcare workers who have been treating hospitals since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines earlier this year.

Senate Resolution No. 584 was introduced on December 1, after various groups of healthcare workers held protests over their unpublished assignments guaranteed under President Rodrigo Duterte’s Administrative Order No. 35 and under the Bayanihan Law to Recover as Just one.

“Puro tayo (All we have been giving is) lip service sa mga (to our) natin health workers. We cannot keep making promises and delivering less,” Hontiveros said in a statement.

“We need to investigate so that we can loosen the bottleneck and create policies that allow us to compensate them and their families fairly and immediately,” he said.

LOOK: Sen. @risahontiveros files resolution urging the Senate to investigate the slow release of the special risk allowance for # COVID-19 leaders in health. pic.twitter.com/2QrOBGWJ3l

– Kat Domingo (@_katrinadomingo) December 3, 2020

Under the law, healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients are entitled to receive P3,000 each month in addition to their regular wages and benefits.

Some P20.5 billion were issued in October for the Philippines’ COVID-19 response, including special allocations for healthcare workers, Hontiveros noted.

“Why are there 16,764 first-line doctors still unpaid? Where is the bottleneck?” she asked.

(Why are there still 16,764 front-line doctors still unpaid? Where’s the bottleneck?)

Hontiveros urged the Chamber to speed up the investigation, pointing out that doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel are “also victims of this economic crisis that we are all experiencing.”

“They do their job despite the risks and save millions of lives every day,” he said.

“Our minimal but important duty is to at least pay them well and on time,” he said.

Earlier this year, the government was criticized for failing to provide adequate personal protective equipment for medical personnel fighting the highly contagious disease, prompting the private sector to respond to requests for help from healthcare workers. .

In mid-2020, healthcare workers also questioned the delay in releasing promised financial assistance for doctors, nurses, and medical staff who died due to COVID-19.

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