PRRD wants fallen, sick healthcare workers compensated by Tuesday

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte holds a meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) at the Malago Clubhouse in Malacañang on May 25, 2020. ACE MORANDANTE/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte is giving concerned agencies until Tuesday (June 9) to provide compensation benefits to healthcare workers who contracted coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte made this order after learning that healthcare workers who fell severely ill or died due to Covid-19 have yet to receive their compensation benefits as mandated by the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act or Republic Act (RA) 11469.

“Hanggang Martes lang po ang binigay ng Presidente para sa lahat ng kinakaukulan na ibigay ang mga compensation benefits sa mga health workers na nagkasakit ng Covid-19 in the line of duty at sa mga pamilyang naiwan ng mga namatay na health workers (The President is giving concerned agencies until Tuesday to provide compensation benefits to health workers who fell ill or died due to Covid-19 in the line of duty),” he said in a virtual presser from Davao City on Thursday.

Roque said Duterte was “angered” when it reached him that healthcare workers have yet to receive their compensation.

“Galit na galit ang Presidente. Hanggang Tuesday next week kailangan maibigay po ang assistance na ‘yan dahil ‘yan ay nasa batas (The President is very angry. He is giving until Tuesday to give the assistance because it is mandated by law),” he said.

Under the Bayanihan Law, public and private healthcare workers who become severely ill or died of Covid-19 in the line of duty are entitled to PHP100,000, while the families of those who succumb to the illness could get PHP1 million.

Last Tuesday, senators lamented that none of the more than 30 healthcare workers who contracted Covid-19 received compensation packages.

Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, citing the Department of Health (DOH), emphasized the absence of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the law.

The absence of the IRR should “not be an excuse” to comply with the law, Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said.

Senator Richard “Dick” Gordon agreed that the IRR is not needed, describing it as a “no brainer.”

Meanwhile, Senator Francis Pangilinan said the delay in the release of the IRR was “unacceptable and unforgivable.”

Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go also lamented as “unacceptable” the delay in properly compensating the families of medical front-liners who have died in the government’s fight against Covid-19.

Aside from compensation, the Bayanihan Law also provides for a “Covid-19 special risk allowance” for public health workers on top of the hazard pay that they should receive under the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers Act.

The law also mandates the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to shoulder all the medical expenses of public and private health workers if they contract Covid-19 or suffer injuries or other diseases during the national health emergency.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, in a separate virtual presser, said the guidelines on compensation benefits is expected on Thursday (June 4).

She said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has signed the joint administrative order (JAO) on the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act Section 4 implementation.

Data from the DOH showed that a total of 2,669 healthcare workers have contracted Covid-19 as of June 1. Of the total cases, 1,438 or nearly 54 percent were able to recover.

The death toll remained at 32.

The total of Covid-19 cases involving health workers accounts for 15 percent of the nationwide tally.

There are 19,748 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the Philippines, 974 deaths and 4,153 are recoveries.