Pay health workers’ COVID-19 compensations until June 9 – Duterte

A frustrated President Duterte has given concerned government agencies until June 9 to release the compensation intended for medical frontliners who contracted coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the family of healthcare workers who died from the virus.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after several senators prodded Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to expedite the release of the compensation intended for the medical frontliners who died due to COVID-19 and those who caught the disease while in the line of duty.

“Nagbigay ang Pangulo ng deadline hanggang Martes sa susunod na linggo para maisagawa ito (The President has set the deadline until Tuesday next week to do this),” he said in his press briefing from Davao City.

Roque said President Duterte got angry when he learned that medical frontliners affected by the virus were still not paid three months after Republic Act No. 11469 or the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act was enacted.

“Galit po ang Presidente. Galit, frustrated at

ngayon ko lang nakita na talagang medyo uminit ang ulo ng Presidente. (The President was angry. Angry, frustrated, and it is the first time I saw him get angry like that),” he said.

“So binabalaan ko po ang mga otoridad: Sumunod po tayo dahil ngayon ko lang po nakita ganyan kainit ang ulo ng Presidente (So I'm warning all government officials: Let's follow the President's orders because that was the first time I saw him get angry like that)," he added.

Under the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act, public and private health workers who become severely ill in the line of duty are to get a ₱100,000 compensation, while the family of those who died of COVID-19 are entitled to ₱1 million.

Senators have learned that no compensation has yet been given to any health worker who got infected by COVID-19 due to the lack of implementing rules and regulations (IRR).

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said he sent a “strongly worded” letter to Duque calling for the immediate payment of compensation. He also said that a law's effectivity does not and cannot rely on the existence of an IRR, especially if the provisions of the law are clear and categorical.

The Department of Health (DOH) said earlier this week that there were already 32 health workers who died in the line of duty.