Recto wants pay hike for all health workers

MANILA, Philippines — “Sana all.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Sunday said the pay increase of government nurses should include other health-care workers, such as medical technologists and nutritionists, who were also laying their lives on the line in stemming the spread of the new coronavirus disease.

“The ‘sana all’ principle must be applied to the salaries of health workers in government because a pay raise for one should cause a raise for all,” Recto said, using the popular Filipino social media catchphrase for “everyone.”

“We must not valorize our front-liners with platitudes. They are best honored by providing them with PPE (personal protective equipment), better pay and support services,” he said.

Recto said the higher salary grade of new state nurses of Salary Grade (SG) 15 “should be recognized as the new benchmark for compensation for all licensed health professionals in the government.”

After 18 years, Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado finally implemented last week Section 32 of Republic Act No. 9173, or the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002, which classified entry level nurses as SG 15, with basic pay of P32,053 to P34,801.

Entry-level nurses were previously rated SG 11, with a basic pay of P22,316 to P24,391 a month.