Duterte extends until June 30 grant of special risk allowance to pandemic frontliners

(File) President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. SIMEON CELI JR. / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has extended until the end of June the grant of special risk allowance (SRA) to all health workers catering to COVID-19 patients.

Duterte signed on Tuesday Administrative Order No. 42, ordering the continuous grant of SRA of up to P5,000 to medical frontliners.

The grant is pro-rated based on the number of days that the health worker physically reports for work in a month, reckoned from September 15, 2020 until June 30, 2021.

In issuing the continuous grant of SRA, Duterte cited the need to “recognize the heroic and invaluable contributions of our health workers throughout the country, who bravely and unselfishly risk their lives and health by being at the forefront of the national efforts to respond to the pandemic.”

The Department of Health was ordered to validate all claims for the payment of SRA to public and private health workers.

The funding for the continued grant of SRA will be sourced from Republic Act No. 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act.

Meanwhile, the Department of Budget and Management was directed to release funds for the payment of health workers’ SRA.

JPV