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Friday, March 29, 2024

‘Nurses’ pay hike a new benchmark’

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The Salary Grade 15 entry level position of nurses should be recognized as the new benchmark for compensation for all licensed health professionals in the government, said Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto.

If done, he said, it would make the current monthly base pay of P32,053 of an SG-15 nurse as their new minimum wage.

Recto said the pandemic has shown the bravery of other white coats in the trenches battling the virus and saving lives—and who deserve a pay raise.

For example, he said many medical technologists—those in hazmat suits who take samples and test them for COVID-19—are holding SG-11 items, with a monthly base pay of P22,316.

He said many radiologists and dietitian-nutritionists, PRC test passers like nurses, have also been marooned in SG-11. “Mga stranded individuals din sila, denied of a ticket to a pay hike,” Recto said

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Recto added that the entry level pay of government dentists, which is SG-17’s P38,464 per month, should be increased, too, as the low pay contributes to the lack of dentists in the public health system, rendering it a “toothless entity.”

So that local governments can afford the increases as health services have been devolved to them, Recto said the Supreme Court ruling on the correct computation of the Internal Revenue Allotment must be implemented immediately.

“We must not valorize our frontliners with platitudes. They are best honored by providing them with PPE, better pay and support services, which they have earned for themselves with their sacrifices and selflessness. Making such a grant is the duty of the government, not merely a prerogative,” he said.

Entry-level nurses in the government, many of whom are now in the frontlines against COVID-19, will now be entitled to P32,053 to P34,801 monthly, from previously only P22,316 to P24,391.

The increase will also cover nurses, regardless of whether they are occupying regular, casual or contractual positions, full-time or part-time, in national government agencies, including state colleges and universities and government corporations, and local government units.

However, It will not apply to those in government agencies and corporations exempted from the coverage of the Compensation and Position Classification Act of 1989 (R.A. No. 6758).

Senator Panfilo Lacson said that after years of waiting, government nurses are finally in line for a much-needed wage increase after the Department of Budget and Management appropriated the funds for it.

Lacson, who pushed for funding for the pay hike via an amendment to the P4.1-trillion 2020 budget, said this should provide much-needed support especially for the frontliners fighting the COVID threat.

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