Law needed for allowances of some health workers —Duque

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Wednesday said healthcare workers with “indirect” exposure to COVID-19 cases could only qualify for special risk allowances (SRA) through a law, otherwise state auditors will flag the expenditure.

During the budget deliberations with the House of Representatives, Duque again cited provisions of Philippine laws that only healthcare workers with direct contact with COVID-19 cases are qualified for SRAs.

Under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2, the benefits are provided for healthcare workers “directly catering to or in contact with COVID-19 patients.”

“The interpretation cannot be left to the head of the agency because it is a law. It is only by way of legislation that this can be amended,” he told lawmakers.

“Otherwise the COA (Commission on Audit) will run after all our chiefs of hospitals, they will run after everybody else that allowed it, despite the clear provision of the law,” he added.

A number of healthcare workers say they have yet to receive allowances for their services amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with some rallying and protesting at the health department’s office.

Duque in August said the Department of Health (DOH) will look into savings that it could realign for risk allowances, given that billions of the department’s budget for the same provision were unobligated.

COA earlier flagged “deficiencies” in the use of P67.32 billion worth of COVID-19 funds, including P11.89 billion, which remained unobligated as of December 31, 2020, and reverted back to the Bureau of the Treasury.

For its part, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on August 25 said it released P311.79 million for the much-delayed SRAs.

Duque said the DOH has also sought legal assistance from the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the issue of releasing SRAs for healthcare workers with indirect contact to COVID-19 patients.

“To me, the ultimate solution to this is to create another law that will clearly stipulate that basta nasa loob ng facilities [as long as they are inside the facilities], why take pains in trying to identify sino ‘yung [who are] direct, sino ba ‘yung [who are the] indirect,” he said.

For its part, COA Chairperson Michael Aguinaldo earlier said that the DOH took part in the crafting of the guidelines, and it could have included all healthcare workers in the SRA coverage.

“Normally when you issue a law and it provides for certain benefits for employees, the implementing guidelines are usually prepared by the DOH, so it’s I guess within the power of the DOH to a certain extent to provide who should be covered,” he told senators last month. —LBG, GMA News