DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 2 July)—The Department of Health (DOH)-Davao has requested an additional budget of P826.3 million for the release of unpaid health emergency allowance (HEA) to healthcare and non-healthcare workers who served during the period of state of national emergency due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Speaking during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas with DOH-Davao on Tuesday, Dr. Annabelle P. Yumang, DOH-Davao regional director, said that the agency listed a total of 174,094 workers who have not been paid their emergency allowances yet.
She said that the DOH-Davao has so far released HEAs amounting to P3.4 billion to 621,526 workers.
Dr. Abdullah B. Dumama Jr., DOH undersecretary for Mindanao, noted that the agency did not cause the delay in the release of the emergency allowances. “The primary reason of the delay is the lack of funds. But [the Department of Budget and Management] gave assurance that it will address this and will set aside around P27.5 billion,” he said.
Dumama said the P27.5 billion, to be included in next year’s national budget, will be for the settlement of the unpaid allowances for the healthcare and non-healthcare workers all over the country, part of it is the P826.3 million DOH-Davao is requesting.
Yumang said that once the region receives the funding from the national government, the payments would be immediately released to the workers through their local government units.
According to the DBM, the amounts that the workers will get will be based on the risk exposure categorization: P3,000 for those deployed in low risk areas, P6,000 in medium risk areas, and P9,000 in high risk areas. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
