MANILA, Philippines — A senator has pressed the health department for updates on the distributon of benefits to health workers after staff at the National Kidney Transplant Institute protested the delay in the release of their allowance under the 'Bayanihan 2' law. Sen. Sonny Angara, in a letter to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on March 12, asked about progress on the benefits for health workers. DOH said 86,348 received hazard pay from more than P824 million allocated for it, it needed some P108.2 million to cover thousands more health workers. “We demand from the management to immediately release our long overdue benefits based on our agreement," said Pacheco in a release by the Alliance of Health Workers. Angara, chair of the Senate finance committee, asked too for the DOH's comments on the concerns aired by the health workers.

Source: Philippine Star March 14, 2021 07:52 UTC