Health workers stage Heroes’ Day protest

MANILA, Philippines — Health workers staged a protest yesterday in Mandaluyong to express their disappointment over the government’s lack of support for the health sector.

Countless sacrifices were made during the pandemic, yet health workers continue to face issues such as low wages, job insecurity, unpaid benefits, severe understaffing and a meager hospital budget, the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) lamented.

As the country commemorated National Heroes’ Day, the group criticized President Marcos’ recent statement calling on health workers to stay and serve the country.

“If the government truly wants Filipino health workers to stay, it must go beyond rhetoric and address their long-standing demands,” the AHW said.

“While billions are wasted on dubious spending – from unprogrammed funds to confidential and intelligence budget and now flood control – health workers and the Filipino people are left waiting, often struggling to claim what is rightfully theirs,” the group added.

Glorifying health workers as “modern-day heroes” is unnecessary, Ely Sobinsky of the Lung Center of the Philippines Employees Association-AHW said. “What we need is for our rights to be respected, our demands to be addressed and public health to be prioritized over politics and profit.”

Without policy improvements, health workers will continue to seek opportunities abroad, Sobinsky said.

The group also called on the Department of Budget and Management to release health workers’ performance-based bonus for 2021 to 2023.