FILE PHOTO. Health personnel assigned to the pay ward COVID19 methodically donning PPEs, masks, etc. sealed in with tapes at small openings to protect them from contracting the SARS-COV-2 from patients with COVID19 confined in UP-PGH. INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON
MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto nudged the government on Wednesday to provide the hazard pay of Philippine General Hospital (PGH) frontliners.
“Barya na nga lang ang hinihingi, hindi pa masuklian ang sakripisyo ng PGH,” Recto said in a statement.
The senator said he is confident that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) can find a source to fund the frontliners’ hazard pay.
“If it requires a clearance from the Office of the President, then the latter should grant it, and even offer funds which the President can tap,” he said.
“After all, he has been given broad powers to realign expenditures under the Bayanihan I and II Laws,” he added, apparently referring to President Rodrigo Duterte.
Recto further said that there are funds under president’s discretion, such as the Contingent Fund, which could be tapped to bankroll the frontliners’ hazard pay.
“PGH is a showcase of excellence. But if its personnel will be forced to beg for what is theirs, it will be seen as an example of the national government’s neglect of our pandemic frontliners,” he said.