Hontiveros: Address working conditions of health workers first before putting deployment cap

Sen. Risa Hontiveros. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday said the government should address first the issue of local health care workers who may not have received their salaries before they could place a cap on the latter’s deployment overseas.

Hontiveros’ statement was in light of President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to lift the overseas travel ban on healthcare workers. However, the government imposed that only 5,000 workers will be allowed to leave every year.

This cap, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said, may “increase eventually.”

“Yung 5,000 cap, siguro bago natin lagyan ng anumang limitasyon o ganyang cap, ayusin muna natin ang working conditions nila,” Hontiveros said over CNN Philippines’ “The Source.”

(The 5,000 cap, maybe before we could put any limitation, let us first address their working conditions.)

“We know for example, that there are still about 16,000 health care workers who have not received their hazard pay especially in the face of their added responsibilities during this COVID-19 pandemic,” she added.

During last week’s Senate plenary debates on the proposed 2021 budget of the Department of Health, senators were told that 60,682 healthcare workers received special risk allowance (SRA) provided under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act.

However, over 16,000 healthcare workers are yet to receive their SRA. Senator Pia Cayetano, who is the sponsor of the DOH’s proposed 2021 budget, cited lack of funds as the reason why such workers did not get their pay.

“Even under non-COVID conditions, karapatan yan ng ating mga nurse at iba pang health care workers, lalo na ngayon that we are facing an unprecedented pandemic, we have thousands of health care workers who have gotten sick and died while taking care of us, Filipinos,” Hontiveros said.

(Even under non-COVID conditions, it’s the right of the nurses and other health care workers to receive pay, especially now we are facing an unprecedented pandemic. We have thousands of health care workers who have gotten sick and died while taking care of us, Filipinos.)

Hontiveros added that the benefits to the 16,000 health workers are “due immediately.”

JPV