Bayan Muna on SC decision upholding Salary Grade 15 base pay for nurses: A positive development

Bayan Muna party-list on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court decision upholding the validity of a legal provision that sets the basic pay for nurses in government health institutions to Salary Grade 15.

In its decision, the high court ruled in favor of government nurses by declaring as valid Section 32 of RA 9173 or the Philippine Nursing Act, which states that the minimum base pay for nurses in the public sector should not be below Salary Grade 15.

"This is indeed a positive development and may immediately benefit our nurses for their demand for a minimum salary of P30,000 which is also the same objective under the Bayan Muna/Makabayan Bloc authored House Bill 3478," Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Zarate said.

In filing House Bill 3478, the Makabayan bloc said nurses have long been denied of their rightful salaries under RA 9173.

They said nurses in national government hospitals only receive P20,754 a month, but those working in the private sector get much less, at only around P10,000 per month according to the Department of Labor and Employment.

In addition, the salary of Filipino nurses are way lower than their counterparts in other ASEAN countries, which range from P55,930 to even P111,955.

Bayan Muna party-list Representative Ferdinand Gaite said it is high time that nurses will be acknowledged and compensated for their hard work and sacrifices.

"Together with the nurses, we will push extra hard for the enactment of at least P30,000 monthly salary," he said.

"The Supreme Court decision and our other bills  can also help to reverse the exodus of nurses from our country especially during this time of polio, dengue, measles and public health crisis," he added. — Erwin Colcol/RSJ, GMA News