Filipino nurses (INQUIRER.net file photo)
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang has reversed a circular last year by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), which increased the salary of entry-level nurses but consequently demoted long-serving senior nurses and put a freeze on salary increases on their behalf.
Associations of nurses on Sunday hailed the reversal of the DBM Circular No. 2020-4 issued on July 17, 2020, saying it was a vindication.
A memorandum by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea dated June 1 reversed the DBM circular, which raised the salary of entry-level nurses from salary grade (SG) 11, or about P22,000, to SG 15, or about P32,000 a month.
But Section 8 in the circular did not correspondingly upgrade the salaries of senior nurses and instead effectively demoted the positions of Nurses II to VII to one rank lower, even while retaining their salary levels.
Thus under the circular, Nurse II with SG 15 retained that salary but was demoted to Nurse I.
Nurse III with SG 17 (P38,000) would become Nurse II, but with the same salary; Nurse IV with SG 19 (P46,000) would become Nurse III, but with the same salary; Nurse V with SG 20 (P52,000) would become Nurse IV, with the same salary; Nurse VI with SG 22 (P66,000) would become Nurse V, with the same salary; and Nurse VII with SG 24 (P85,000) would become Nurse VI with the same salary.
DOH order ignored
In October last year, the Department of Health (DOH) issued Memorandum No. 2020-466 suspending the implementation of the DBM circular for Nurse II and above.
But according to the Filipino Nurses United (FNU) association, many hospitals ignored the order and accordingly demoted their senior nurses.
Medialdea’s memorandum raises the salary of Nurse II from SG 15 to SG 16 (currently about P36,000), while retaining the “position titles of Nurse III to Nurse VII with their corresponding SGs.”
In a statement, Maristela Abenojar, FNU president, said the association “celebrates with thousands of government nurses as they will no longer be demoted.”
She said the circular had caused “much disappointment and demoralization” among the nurses, especially at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
“Nurses were literally crying out of hurt, frustration and desire for change. The circular has meant a loss of their hard-earned positions and ranks,” Abenojar said.
‘Lone voice’
“[The reversal of the circular] proves that the united voice of nurses and the righteous assertion of their legitimate labor rights are critical in claiming back what is due for them,” she added.
Nurses at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), for their part, said the Malacañang decision gave “justice” to its call against the DBM circular when it was issued last year.
“We were criticized by other [nurses’] groups [at first] because of our negative view of the said circular. Eventually, our then ‘lone voice in the wilderness’ became a common opinion of nurses across the country when this (circular) was implemented.
It only proved that the DBM deceived us,” the PGH Nurses Association said in a statement.
It said the retention of the seven-level nurses’ position and the increase in the salary grade of Nurse II from SG 15 to SG 16 mattered a lot to them at PGH “because almost 95 percent of our staff nurses hold the Nurse II position.”
The group, however, said that the reversal of the DBM circular should not only restore the status of the affected nurses.
It called on the DBM “to immediately” give the almost one-year salary differential of those who held Nurse II positions before they were demoted.
Deployment suspension
The FNU also protested the suspension by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) of the deployment of newly hired nurses, nursing aides and nurse assistants.
The POEA released over the weekend an advisory dated June 1, saying that the government has reached its imposed quota of 5,000 hirees among health-care workers.
The FNU said nurses had the right to seek higher salaries abroad, adding that the country would not have a shortage of nurses even if many choose to work overseas.