The Department of Budget and Management said Wednesday it has released the special risk allowance (SRA) of over 20,000 health care workers to the Department of Health, which was set to download P311.79 million to its regional offices and hospitals yesterday.
The hospitals would then be in charge of disbursing the SRA to medical frontliners, “first to healthcare workers who are directly affected [by COVID-19],” acting Budget Secretary Tina Rose Marie Canda said during the Laging Handa briefing.
Health workers from both public and private hospitals alike have threatened mass resignations if they did not get their allowances as provided under the Bayanihan law before the end of the month.
The DBM made the announcement after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the DOH and DBM to release the benefits within 10 days after numerous complaints of months-long delays.
“The amount under Bayanihan 2 has actually been reverted [to the Treasury] but we were able to finance the SRA for the 20,000 health care workers whose claims have not been paid under the Bayanihan 2 law and we released it today,” Canda said later during a Senate hearing.
She said the P311 million in funding backup for the SRA was taken from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund and Unprogrammed Appropriations under the FY 2021 General Appropriations Act as certified by the Bureau of Treasury.
The Philippine Nurses Association, meanwhile, appealed to the DOH to release concrete guidelines for the distribution of the SRA.
PNA National President Melbert Reyes, in an interview on radio dzBB, lauded President Rodrigo Duterte for directing the DBM and the DOH to distribute the SRA to health workers within 10 days.
However, Reyes said there is a lack of concrete guidelines regarding the distribution of the SRA, resulting in some health workers not receiving it.
“The main problem we are seeing is the consistency in following the guidelines that the law has provided. The DOH has apparently no concrete guidelines on distributing the SRA,” Reyes said in Filipino.
“We are aware, and our lawmakers recognize that the mandate of the law is very complicated because of the phrase ‘directly catering to’ in the release of SRA,” he said.
The said phrase refers to a category of medical frontline workers serving in the fight against COVID-19.
Reyes said hospitals differ in the interpretation of the law, with some being able to justify the granting of SRA to all their health workers, as opposed to others that could not include all of their frontliners.
Guided by Administrative Order No. 42 and DBM-DOH Joint Circular No. 1 dated June 16, 2021, the DBM said about 20,208 public and private health workers directly catering to COVID-19 patients shall receive an SRA not exceeding P5,000 per month from December 20, 2020 to June 30, 2021.
The SRA grant shall be prorated based on the number of days the public and private health workers physically report for work in a month, the department added.
The DOH shall then facilitate the downloading of the funds to the DOH-retained hospitals, treatment and rehabilitation centers, private hospitals, and other COVID-19 facilities.
Meanwhile, Senator Joel Villanueva said billions in funding under Bayanihan 2 were “repurposed.”
Villanueva said that of the P13 billion allotted to the DOH, some P3.19 billion and P1.02 billion were “adjusted for augmentation for operating of DOH-supervised hospitals to include accommodation and transport.”
But funds for meals, accommodation, and transport allowances sent to hospitals in December 2020 were ordered returned within the same month, according to an alliance of health workers.
“It boggles our minds how the funds allotted for SRA and hazard pay benefits (were) adjusted and reallocated to another set of benefits for meals, transportation allowances but in the end our health care workers did not get either,” Villanueva said during a Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing.
“DOH should trace these funds and see which regional offices and hospitals still hold these funds and make them accountable,” he said.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, under fire for allegedly mismanaging billions of pesos in COVID-19 funds, asked the Senate to draft a law to expand coverage of SRA to all health workers, even those not directly handling COVID-19 cases.
At the resumption of the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on the Commission on Audit’s report on the DOH expenditures on Wednesday, Duque asked for the passage of the measure as he underscored the need for a legal basis to expand SRA coverage.
“The position of the [DOH] executive committee is, it will be best that there will be law a created allow for granting SRA to not just those who are directly in care of the patients or in direct contact but everyone in the facility owing to the high transmissibility of the Delta variant, everybody is at risk,” Duque said.
But Senate Blue Ribbon chairman Richard Gordon told Duque not to pass the task to the lawmakers, noting the COA has already rendered a “liberalized interpretation” that can cover the SRAs of the medical frontliners not directly catering to COVID-19 patients, even without a law.
Duque maintained, however, that the COA’s liberal interpretation cannot “substitute” for a legal basis.
On Wednesday, health workers at the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center (JRRMMC) staged a noise barrage in front of their hospital lobby to mark the opening salvo of the Alliance of Health Workers’ series of protest actions.
John Paul Gubaton, Vice President of the JRRMMC Employees Union-Alliance of Health Workers, slammed Duque for deceiving them.
“Certainly, there is enough budget, but when it comes to health workers’ welfare, safety and protection, DOH always informs us that there is no appropriated budget,” he said.
Citing the findings of the Commission on Audit report, he said Duque should immediately release the remaining 70 percent of the P39.2 million budget for accommodation and transportation allowance covering the period of September to December 2020.
Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, a DOH-retained hospital, only received 30 percent of the funds intended for the meals, accommodation, and transportation (MAT) allowance of its health workers, as the remaining 70 percent of the funds was withheld by the DOH.
Cristy Donguines, president of the JRRMMCEU-AHW, said many from their ranks have died as a result of exposure to COVID-19.
“Our situation is getting worse every day. Clearly, the frontline health workers’ commitment and dedication waging this formidable battle against Covid-19 is incomparable,” she said.
Also on Wednesday, Duque defended the transfer of P42 billion to the procurement service of the DBM for the purchase of common supplies and equipment was legal.
In a taped public briefing, Duque said that the DOH’s transfer of P42 billion worth of funds to the PS-DBM to procure personal protective equipment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic last year was supported by the Government Procurement Policy Board’s Resolution No. 03-2020.
Under the resolution, government agencies are allowed to adopt “efficient, effective and expedient procurement procedures during a state of public health emergency,” Duque said.