Bongbong Marcos orders health workers’ allowance continued despite lifting of state of calamity
Medical workers prepare BioNtech-Pfizer Covid-19 coronavirus vaccines at a coliseum in Makati City, suburban Manila on November 29, 2021. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday ordered that the allowance of health workers be continued despite the lifting of the state of calamity.
Marcos said that the distribution of health workers’ allowance should not be affected by the lifting of the state of calamity in view of the decreasing number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the country.
“Tuloy-tuloy ‘yan… Yung inaalala ko dati na hindi matutuloy ang compensation para sa ating health workers, ‘yung mga health workers, ‘yung allowance nila ay pinag-aralan namin nang mabuti kahit hindi itinutuloy ang state of calamity ay hindi maapektuhan ang pagbayad doon sa ating mga health workers ng kanilang mga benefits,” he said after meeting with health officials in Malacañang.
(The distribution should be continuous. We studied my concern that the compensation of health workers’ allowance will be stopped once the state of calamity. But we found that this will not be affected.)
Former President Rodrigo Duterte declared a state of calamity in the country in March 2020, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state of calamity was supposed to last for six months but was extended for a year up to September 12, 2021. It was then extended for a second time.
Marcos also mentioned the COVID infection situation in the country, saying he discussed with health officials the procurement of vaccines.
The COVAX facility, co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), shipped to the Philippines almost 1.3 million doses of the vaccine, according to the President.
Such number of doses is sufficient for the country for now, Marcos said as he pointed to the declining number of infections in the Philippines based on recent records.
“Pababa naman nang pababa ang ating cases, pababa nang pababa naman ang ating hospitalization, ‘yun ang binabantayan natin. So titingnan natin,” he said.
(The number of cases are decreasing and even the hospitalization rate. We are looking out for that.)
“Hindi na kailangan kagaya ng 2021 na lagi tayong nagmamadali makakuha ng vaccine dahil pabawas na ‘yung risk, so dapat naman eh mag-adjust din tayo doon sa kung ano ba talaga ang scientific na assessment doon sa sitwasyon ng COVID,” he added
(It’s not like in 2021 that we should be urgent in procuring vaccines because the risk is becoming lesser so we should adjust to the scientific assessment of the COVID-19 situation.)
The Department of Health (DOH) has reported that new COVID-19 cases continue to decline in the country.
For the week covering January 29, the DOH logged only 9,982 active COVID-19 cases.
From January 23 to 29, the DOH recorded 1,206 new cases, with 172 average daily cases for the period, which was 35 percent lower than the cases from January 16 to 22.
There are over 73 million individuals who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 which is 94.54% of the target population, while 21 million individuals have received their booster shots, the PCO said.
A total of 6.9 million senior citizens have received the primary series of COVID-19 vaccines, while 2.76 million senior citizens had their booster shots. EDV
