After the debacle at the City Council, August 18, in relation to the exclusion of Barangay Health Workers (BHW) in the Administrative Order No. 35, 36 and 42 related to the Active Hazard Duty Pay (AHDP) and Special Risk Allowance (SRA). The Puerto Princesa City Council moved to create a resolution addressing the Office of the President to include the BHWs in the future AHDP and SRA.
The Department of Health (DOH) Regional Director Dr. Mario Baquilod was questioned by City Councilor Elgin Damasco to clarify whether or not Barangay Health Workers are qualified to receive AHDP and SRA base on AO No. 35, 36 and 42.
“Opo, ‘yung ating BHW ay kasama, lahat po sila. May listahan po, mga requirements na dapat i-submit sa atin. Kasama sila, mga Barangay Health Workers, makakatanggap ng SRA. Ang amin lang po, meron kaming mga dokumento na dapat isubmit ng ating Puerto Princesa City,” Dr Baquilod confirms.
The Division Head in charge of facilitating the payment of SRA Joselito Padua explains that there are certain requirements a BHW need to suffice to be eligible for an SRA.
“So, may mga certain condition lang po para mabigyan ang mga BHW. Unang-una po, ang BHW po ay duly registered. Siya po ay assigned sa hospital, laboratory, medical or quarantine facility, at nagbibigay po siya o providing critical and urgent services in response to COVID public health emergency. Ibig sabihin may direct care po siya na ginagawa sa pasyente, nag-aalaga po siya…at dapat po included in the list…of BHW certified by the Local Health Board. Isa po ‘yan sa mga requirement na hinihingi namin na maibigay po ‘yung listahan para po makatanggap po ang ating mga kinikilalang BHW,” Padua explains.
He further expounds that, “Una po ay dapat po ang ating BHW…duly registered, assigned po siya sa hospital, laboratory, medical o quarantine facility…at sila po ay involved po sa mga activities in providing or in conducting health education, prevention ng ating mga COVID-19,” are the requirements to be eligible for AHDP.
“…Meron pong P5 million para sa Puerto Princesa, para po sa ating health workers kasama na ang ating BHW. Ang nakalaan sa kanila ay 134 for 16 BHW na ipinadala po ito sa atin ng City Health Office for year between September 2020 hanggang June 30 2021…Kung kumpleto po ang bawat araw nila sa 22 days sa loob ng isang buwan ay mayroon po silang matatanggap na P5,000 for 1 month,” he added.
Baquilod also expounded that there is a difference between the AHDP and SRA.
“’Yun po ‘yung pag-mention na dapat nating i-satisfy ayon po dito sa pag-joint circular ng DBM at Department of Health guideline…pero ‘yung iba na although wala pa pong binibigiyan ngayon ay puwede pa po sila makatanggap the hazard pay. ‘Yun naman pong may kinalaman sa mga activities in preventing isolating treatment ng COVID. Pero ito pong SRA po [ay] may kinalaman sa direct care po ng COVID, either probable, suspect or confirmed cases. So, ‘yun po ‘yung pagkakaiba,” Baquilod explains.
“Sa ngayon po ang funds sa hazard pay ay wala pa pong napag-uusapan, wala pa pong ibinababa. Ang binaba lang po ng national government ay ‘yun pong para sa SRA,” he added. “Meron tayong dalawa ng batches ng ating Special Risk Allowance and Hazard pay. ‘Yung na-mention po ni Mr. Padua nauna, ito po yung September up to December of 2020. And then ‘yung pangalawang batch, ang natanggap lang po ng aming opisina ay ‘yung SRA, ito naman po ang December hanggang June 2021…Ang aming tanggapan po talaga nag-depend po sa mga listahan na sinasubmit ng ating lokal na pamahalaan lalo na po ‘yung ating City Health Office…”
He also said that the national government already disbursed hazard pay to those who are part of the campaign against COVID-19 and that his office did not receive a list of individuals to receive hazard pay from the Puerto Princesa City Health Office [CHO].
Furthermore, the BHWs who qualify for AHDP for the year 2020 are not able to claim any longer as the submission for the list was only until December of last year and that the funds have already been returned to the national government.
After further inquiry, the office of the Regional DOH said that if they ever received any list of BHWs for the AHDP, they would have added them to the allocated funds.
City Health Officer Dr. Ricardo Panganiban denied the accusation that the City Health Office did not send a list of names entitled for AHDP and SRA. He noted during the question-and-answer hour that they already received the said funds and have disbursed a total of more than P7 million.
“Gusto ko pong sabihin na hindi po totoo… Nagpadala po kami [ng listahan ng BHW]… Kami po ang nag-disburse nun. Ang total po nun, kung hindi po ako nagkakamali, ay P7 million,” Panganiban says to which the Regional Director of DOH confirmed. “Hindi po ako sigurado kung ano [yung exact date] eh basta ang alam ko bago matapos ‘yung taon or early this year ay na-disburse po namin… At nakapag-liquidate na nga po tayo. Pero gusto ko pong ulitin sa inyo, ‘yung active hazard duty pay ay kino-cover po ng AO 35 para pong nagko-conflict po kami ni Director [Baquilod] eh.”
“… Kami po ay kasama as frontliners ngunit kahit minsan po ay hindi ako nakatanggap ng SRA… kahit po .yang taga satellite, hindi po sila nakatanggap. kahit mga taga Health Center, hindi sila nakatanggap. Kasi…AO No. 35, ito po ‘yung tinutukoy nating active hazard duty pay,” he continued.
The Administrative Order No. 35 “AUTHORIZING THE GRANT OF ACTIVE HAZARD DUTY PAY TO HUMAN RESOURCES FOR HEALTH SERVING IN THE FRONTLINES DURING THE STATE OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY” section 1 states that all government involved agencies, corporations and local government units are authorized to grant P3,000 worth of AHDP per month under the conditions of “(i) civilian employees occupying regular, contracual or casual positions, wheter full or part-time; or (ii) workers engaged through contract of services (COS) or job order (JO), including duly and registered Barangay Health Workers (BHWs), who are assigned to hospitals, laboratories, or medical and quarantine facilities, and those whose official duties and responsibilities are directly related to the health care response of the government to COVID-19.”
It also explicitly states in its Section 3.D that BHWs “who are not assigned to hospitals, laboratories and quarantine facilities” are excluded.
Dr. Panganiban says that, “…wala po tayong hospitals, ‘di ba? So ‘yung kasama po diyan ang mga taga ONP, ‘yung mga nasa private… kung susundan niyo po ito, hindi po talaga kami tatama. Unfortunately, ‘yung mga health workers na iba [ay] hindi rin po talaga kasama lahat. Ang pagkakaiba lang po ng Active Hazard Duty Pay ay ang P3,000 lamang po ito samantalang ang SRA ay P5,000.”
“Kasi kami sumunod lang po kami sa direktiba o admin order na binaba ninyo sa amin,” he continues to explain as in the Joint Circular No. 1, s. 2021 section 5.0 dated June 16, 2021 states that “Agencies shall be responsible for the proper implementation of provisions of this Circular. The responsible officers shall be held liable for any payment not in accordance with the provisions hereof without prejudice to the refund by the employees concerned of any excess or unauthorized payments”.
“…kasi nung nagkaroon po kami ng orientation, tinanong ko direkta kaagad ‘kasama po ba kami?’ ‘eh ‘di po kayo kasama’… ‘kasama po ba yung mga taga satellite?’ mga frontliners din po. Eh ang sabi ng nagko-conduct ng orientation ‘kami po yung ngunit hindi po kami kasama talaga’… sinabi na kaagad na direkta hospital, laboratory, medical quarantine facilities kung saan nandun yung ating mga COVIDpatients,” he said.
The City Health Officer also stated that the BHW did receive SRA or AHDP last year but from the local government fund.
The City Council then concluded that the best solution to this problem was to create a resolution addressed to the Office of the President requesting the review of the existing AO Nos. 35, 36, and 42 to include BHWs and other health workers in the LGU who are not reporting to any hospitals, laboratories, medical and quarantine facilities.
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