PRRD backs son’s bill seeking pay hike for nurses

Currently, additional benefits such as life insurance, free accommodation and transportation, and free and regular testing for all medical front-liners are provided for healthcare workers under the “Bayanihan to Recover as One Act” or Bayanihan 2. (File Photo: Vice Mayor Pulong Duterte – Official/Facebook)

MANILA – President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is supportive of a measure that seeks to increase the salary of nurses in the private sector to make it at par with their counterparts in government hospitals, Malacañang said Tuesday.

Deputy Speaker Paolo Duterte earlier filed House Bill 7659 or the Minimum Wage for Nurses in the Private Sector Act of 2020 which urges the National Wages Productivity Commission of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to establish a minimum wage for nurses in private hospitals.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that while he is unsure if the President will certify the bill as urgent, he is certain that Duterte also recognizes the need to increase private nurses’ salaries.

“Hindi ko po sigurado kung masi-certify as urgent iyan pero siyempre suportado ng Presidente ang kaniyang anak (I am not sure if he will certify that as urgent but of course the President supports his son),” he said in a virtual Palace briefing.

Early this month, Roque said he recognizes the need to raise the salary grade of nurses and other healthcare workers.

He said the solution to public nurses’ low salaries is raising their salary grades under the Salary Standardization Law (SSL).

Currently, additional benefits such as life insurance, free accommodation and transportation, and free and regular testing for all medical front-liners are provided for healthcare workers under the “Bayanihan to Recover as One Act” or Bayanihan 2.

The national government is in the process of hiring more healthcare workers to augment the country’s workforce.

A study by data aggregator iPrice Group showed that mid-level nurses in the Philippines earn much lower than nurses in other Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

Filipino nurses earn around PHP40,381 per month while their Southeast Asian counterparts earn at least PHP63,000.

No total lifting of deployment ban

Nurses earlier thanked Duterte for allowing healthcare workers with perfected contracts as of Aug. 31, 2020 to leave and work overseas.

Roque, however, said he does not see a total lifting of the deployment ban anytime soon.

“Habang mayroon po tayong state of calamity dahil sa Covid-19, mahihirapan pong i-lift iyang ban na iyan (While we are under a state of calamity due to Covid-19, it will be difficult to lift that ban),” he said.

He emphasized that aside from needing healthcare workers to serve their fellow Filipinos, Duterte is also looking after their welfare since Covid-19 cases in the Philippines are lower than in other countries.

In a taped speech on Monday night, Duterte appealed to healthcare workers not exempted from the deployment ban to stay in the country a bit longer and serve fellow Filipinos, assuring them that the Covid-19 pandemic would “come to pass.”

“I do not have anything against you but sana ‘yung iba naman (I hope some) will have the — the spirit and the fervor to serve the Filipino people because we also need help and we have a crisis also to deal with,” he said.

Duterte lauded

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III thanked Duterte for approving the department’s recommendation which was also adopted by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease to allow healthcare workers with complete documentation as of Aug. 31.

“So, with this approval, all those nurses and medical workers, who completed their papers for deployment as of August 31 will now be allowed to be deployed,” Bello said.

Bello also said that those who went home for vacation and were not able to leave due to lockdown can also go back to their work abroad.

He estimated that a maximum of 1,200 nurses with perfected contracts as of Aug. 31 will leave the country to work abroad.

Bello also appealed to those healthcare workers who have no contract yet as of Aug. 31 to be patient.

“Our appeal to them is just be patient. Because we are regularly assessing the situation. If the pandemic/situation will improve, we can probably afford to dispense with the services of our health workers. Our worry is if we continue to allow our nurses and medical workers, it might result in a situation where we will have no nurses to attend to the needs of our own citizens, especially Covid-19 patients,” he said.