DBM releases ₧9-B SRA to DOH for health workers

AROUND 300,000 public and private health workers can now finally expect the payment of their Covid-19 special risk allowances (SRA) on or before June 30 after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it has already released P9.02 billion in funds to the Department of Health (DOH).

A few days after receiving the budget request from DOH on June 23, the DBM said it has already released the Special Allotment Release Order and the Notice of Cash Allocation amounting to P9.02 billion to cover the payment of Covid-19 SR A from December 20, 2020 to June 30, 2021.

The funds cover the payment of SRA not exceeding P5,000 per month. The grant of the Covid-19 SRA shall be pro-rated based on the number of days that frontline health workers physically report for work in a month.

“With the funds now made available to the DOH, qualified public and private health workers can expect the payment of the SRA not later than June 30, 2021,” the DBM said in a statement over the weekend.

“The DBM is committed to fulfill its mandate of promoting the efficient and effective management of the national budget to support its budget priorities while also ensuring that the needs of the Filipino people are met, especially of healthcare workers in this time of pandemic,” it added.

Citing data from the DOH, Budget Assistant Secretary Kim Robert De Leon said in a radio interview on Sunday that 298,202 health workers directly catering to or in contact with Covid-19 patients are eligible for SRA.

De Leon said the funds for Covid-19 SRA were sourced from the appropriations under Bayanihan 2, adding that DOH is working hard to release the funds on or before June 30. To recall, appropriations under Bayanihan 2 are only valid until June 30 this year.

Asked for the reason for the delay in the release of funds, De Leon explained that it was only on June 1 when they finally had the legal basis to release funds for Covid-19 SRA for health workers after President Duterte issued Administrative Order No. 42.

“First of all, our basis for giving Special Risk Allowance is embodied in Bayanihan 2, and we know that this [the law] expired on December 19 or December 20, 2020, so the primary basis for the grant of SRA really ended last December 20; and our new basis for extending SRA was Administrative Order No. 42 which the President issued last June 1, 2021,” he explained, mostly in Filipino.

The day after the issuance of AO 42, De Leon said the DBM sent the signed joint circular for SRA to DOH. The DBM then received the circular from DOH on June 16.

Nonetheless, De Leon expressed confidence that DOH will be able to release the funds to health workers on or before June 30.

Health workers had earlier held protests to demand from the government the release of their allowances before Bayanihan 2 expires by the end of the month. As of May 31, P18.4 billion in Bayanihan 2 appropriations have yet to be obligated by agencies, according to DBM.