• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Some 50 job order employees assigned at the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office/911 Bacolod City Emergency are asking the city government for Health Emergency Allowance (HEA) higher than P3,000.
In their letter-appeal endorsed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod July 31 to the City Mayor’s Office, the JOs said they are considered frontliners as they were the first ones tapped to assess COVID and non-COVID patients before transport to health facilities and hospitals, at the height of the health pandemic.
Republic Act 11712, or the Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances for Health Care Workers Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations, provide for the payment of HEA, sickness and death compensation and other benefits for public and private healthcare workers (HCWs) and non-HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic and other future public health emergencies, with retroactive application starting July 1, 2021.
Section 5 of the law states that the amount of HEA shall vary, depending on the risk exposure categorization of the HCWs and non-HCWs, or at P3,000 for low risk, P6,000 for medium risk, and P9,000 for high risk.
Although the JOs did not specify the amount they want to receive as HEA, they said that “being considered as frontliners by nature of work, may we ask your kind consideration and understanding to take positive actions on our request”, adding that they “rendered untiring and dedicated service during the pandemic time”.
The letter-appeal came as the SP authorized Mayor Alfredo Benitez July 24 to sign the memorandum of agreement with the Department of Health Region 6 on the transfer of funds to the city to pay the HEA of eligible healthcare workers and non-HCWs.
As per the MOA, there is P83.5 million available funds for the payment of arrears to eligible HCWs and non-HCWs.
In March last year, a MOA was also signed between the local government and DOH6 on the release of P37 million HEA, or One COVID-19 Allowance, to HCWs and non-HCWs in the highly-urbanized city.
The initial list of recipients reached 1,400, although several councilors that time questioned the qualifications in availing of the HEA after several health frontliners complained that they were not included in this list. | CGC
