MANILA, Philippines — Cainta, Rizal Mayor Johnielle Nieto said the local government is giving medical workers their P300 hazard pay, responding to an allegation that the hazard pay of a nurse at the Cainta Municipal Hospital, who died of COVID-19, had been slashed.
“300 pesos a day ang hazard na binigay ng Cainta local government unit sa mga frontliners. Ito ay makukuha mo bukod pa sa sweldong matatanggap mo bilang nurse ng ospital. Sa 60 day period na pinagbasehan ng covid timeline, kung pumasok ang frontliner ng 60 days, makakatanggap siya ng 18,000 pesos,” Nieto wrote in his Facebook post on Thursday night.
(The Cainta LGU gives P300 hazard pay a day to frontliners. This is on top of the salary they received as a nurse in the hospital. In the 60-day period of the COVID timeline, if the frontliner worked for 60 days she will receive P18,000.)
“Ang namayapang nurse ay pumasok ng 33 days. 21,000 plus pesos ang sweldo niya. Tumatanggap na rin siya ng hazard pay bilang nurse base sa percentage ng nakukuha niyang sweldo. Kahit wala pang covid,” he added.
(The nurse who died worked for 33 days. Her salary is more than P21,000. She is still receiving hazard pay as a nurse based on the percentage of the salary she is receiving.)
Joie Cruz, daughter of nurse Ma. Theresa Cruz, said in a Facebook post that her mother’s hazard pay was supposed to be P30,000. It was computed based on a P500 hazard pay a day per government worker.
Instead, Cruz’s family received only P7,000, Joie said.
Nieto, meanwhile, denied that they had failed to give Cruz a swab test, saying it was the nurse who had the swab test canceled as she was feeling better.
“Hindi din totoo na tinanggihan siya sa request ng swab. Siya ang nagdecide na i cancel ang request dahil maganda na daw ang pakiramdam niya. Sila sila pa ba naman ang hindi magtutulungan eh sila sila rin naman ang nasa ospital,” Nieto said.
(It is not true that she was denied having a swab test. She was the one who canceled the request because her condition is improving. They are the ones inside the hospital so it means they should be the ones helping each other.)
In a Facebook post, Joie claimed that the local government failed to give her mother a swab test, who was exposed to a COVID-19 patient.
Nieto said he already personally talked to the Cruz family. He also noted that they had provided P50,000 financial aid to the family.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government and Department of Health said they will investigate the supposed slash in Cruz’s hazard pay.