UP union seeks P20,000 aid; frontliners set protest over delayed benefits
MANILA, Philippines — Members of the University of the Philippines (UP) employees’ union are seeking cash assistance during the ongoing enhanced community quarantine despite a recent Commission on Audit (COA) report questioning the issuance of a similar grant last year.
According to Jossel Ebesate, president of the All-UP Workers Union, the provision of the P20,000 health support grant is “justified” and necessary, especially as more and more workers are falling ill and are quarantined at the Silungang Molave, a COVID-19 isolation facility at UP Diliman.
Elsewhere, the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) is calling on the government to release long-delayed allowances and benefits.
The AHW, an umbrella group of hospital workers’ unions, is preparing to mount protest actions in Metro Manila and the provinces in the next two weeks to dramatize its appeal, according to its president, Robert Mendoza.
Mendoza said the delayed release of hazard pay and special risk allowances was among their grievances.
Physical, mental stress
“Our call has always been for the government to look after health-care workers in terms of health, safety and welfare,” he told the Inquirer on Tuesday.
The All-UP Workers Union wrote UP president Danilo Concepcion to request that their plea be raised at the Aug. 26 meeting of the Board of Regents, the state university’s policymaking body.
In the letter, the union members said the surge in infections caused by the coronavirus’ Delta variant and the recent detection of the Lambda variant had been causing them physical and mental stress, impacting their health and work performance.
The state university has about 13,500 regular and contractual employees, including the 5,000 health workers at the UP Philippine General Hospital, the country’s largest COVID-19 treatment facility.
In 2020, UP granted a P15,000 emergency allowance to each of its workers. But in its July audit report, the COA called out the university for the cash grant that was not included in the government allowances approved by the Department of Budget and Management.
New grads to be tapped
In raising the union’s appeal, Ebesate cited UP’s fiscal autonomy, as well as the 2020 memorandum circular of the Civil Service Commission encouraging government agencies to provide transportation, housing, or monetary support to employees during the pandemic.
A big number of nurses in private hospitals have been quitting their jobs due to sheer physical exhaustion and low pay, and the government is banking on new nursing graduates to augment the strained health work force.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the country was lucky to have “surplus” nursing graduates.
“We expect that our new graduates can be called upon to serve the additional beds that we have established to serve those who would get sick with COVID,” Roque said on Tuesday in a press briefing.
He made the statement when asked how the government planned to ensure enough personnel to care for COVID-19 patients in light of reports of nurses’ resignations.
In his regular public address on Monday, President Duterte directed officials to give priority to the benefits of front-liners.
“Prioritize the front-liners. If there is enough money, pay,” Mr. Duterte said, adding that officials should also borrow money if there was a need to buy more medicines.
Philippine Nurses Association president Melbert Reyes said nurses in private hospitals “could not be blamed” for quitting their jobs.
Reyes said that from reports, most health workers had received special risk allowances only for the period September-December 2020. He also said nurses who had moved from private to public hospitals for better pay were being offered only contractual positions “without security of tenure.”
Procedure first
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said funds for the health workers’ benefits were available but these had to be released according to proper procedure.
Vergeire said the Department of Health (DOH) was ready to receive the workers to listen to their wishes and complaints.
She said, however, that the DOH also wanted them to understand its position that the benefits to be given to them should be aligned with provisions of the law and government policies.
“So sometimes there are delays in the release because your hospitals cannot comply with the submission [of requirements] to our regional offices,” Vergeire said in a Palace briefing.
She said the DOH had released some P9 billion in funds for eligible health workers’ benefits to the regional offices and hospitals since June 30.
But documentary requirements have to be completed for the DOH to be able to provide the funds, she said.
“We are also following government procedures, and we cannot just release the funds without further validation and evaluation of the submitted documents,” she added.
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