MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:24 p.m.) — Health workers and their families who have contracted the novel coronavirus in the performance of their duties have not received the compensation owed to them as stipulated in the Bayanihan Heal as One Act, the law granting President Rodrigo Duterte special powers to address the COVID-19 crisis.
This was what Senate President Vicente Sotto III said in a letter addressed to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Wednesday afternoon, urging the latter to expedite the rolling out of aid to affected health workers and provide an update on his progress.
Related Stories
"It is very disconcerting to know that after more than two (2) months of the above-cited law's implementation no health worker and his or her family has received their supposed renumeration (sic.) for sacrificing their own lives for our own. The purported reason being the lack of an implementing rules and regulations (IRR) to effectively execute a provision of the law," Sotto wrote.
"Assuming arguendo that an IRR is indispensable in the implementation of Bayanihan to Heal As One Act, particularly on the grant of compensation to affected health workers or their families, then what hindered your office to draft and approved the said IRR for the past two months?" Sotto added.
Republic Act 11469 in Section 4(f) hands the chief executive the power to: "provide compensation of One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000) to public and private health workers who may contract severe COVID-19 infection while in the line of duty."
READ: Senate President Vicente Sotto III's letter to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on the reported failure of the government to compensate health and medical personnel who died or got sick with COVID-19 as mandated by the Bayanihan Act @PhilippineStar pic.twitter.com/pCYpO1yN4a
— Paolo S. Romero (@PaoloSRomero) June 3, 2020
Philippine jurisprudence has reiterated the doctrine that every law has in its favor the presumption of validity, which contends that the mere absence of implementing rules does not invalidate the provisions of a law.
The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation in an earlier exchange with Philstar.com said that it was not in charge of enforcing the provision.
For the past few months, Duque has been the target of much criticism over his performance as the country's health chief, which has materialized in the form of a Senate resolution calling for his resignation signed by 14 senators, including Sotto, where the senators slammed the health chief for his "failure of leadership, negligence, lack of foresight, and inefficiency in performance."
At the onset of the global pandemic, Duque was quoted as saying that the Philippines was a middle-income country and was thus not among the poor countries that the World Health Organization said were ill-equipped to deal with the new pathogen.
"May I remind you that we, as public servants, are duty-bound to cushion the effects that this pandemic brings and not to add to the problem or worst, to be the problem and source of panic and further uncertainties in this already challenging world?" Sotto said in his letter.
As of this publishing, the new pathogen has infected 18,997 patients in the Philippines.
The Department of Health has said that one in every five coronavirus cases is a health worker, who are among the most vulnerable to transmission.
Wednesday marks the third day of general community quarantine in Metro Manila sans mass testing and adequate mass transportation.
"The efforts and sacrifices made by our healthcare worker-frontliners need not be more emphasized. Their being so-called COVID-19 heroes and the accolades they received each are enough reminders for them to get noticed by everyone including you, but it seems that you pay no heed to these facts," Sotto added.
"Our government has provided funds for the programs under the Bayanihan to Heal As Otte Art, which include the subject compensation. So, all the more reason for it to be implemented without delay and difficulty." — Franco Luna with reports from Prinz Magtulis and Gaea Katreena Cabico