“This is a mass walk-out of DOH employees to press Secretary Enrique Ona to release our hazard pay starting July of this year,” said Jonathan Placido, President of DOH-XI Employees Association.
By ALEX D. LOPEZ
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Employees of the Department of Health in Regional Office-XI walked out of their offices on Thursday to press for the immediate release of their hazard pay and other benefits mandated under the Magna Carta for Health Workers or the RA 7305.
The employees occupied the side gate of the regional office fronting the main street in Bajada, Davao City where they hung streamers and distributed leaflets to passing motorists and individuals.
“This is a mass walk-out of DOH employees to press Secretary Enrique Ona to release our hazard pay starting July of this year,” said Jonathan Placido, President of DOH-XI Employees Association.
Placido said DOH workers have been receiving their hazard pay since 1992. But they have stopped receiving this benefit since Secretary Ona took over.
In a statement distributed to the members of the media, the DOH employees said they are so frustrated and dismayed due to the consistent refusal of Secretary Ona to release their hazard pay and other benefits.
The employees also assailed the newly formulated draft joint circular regarding compensation of both the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and DOH dismissing the same as divisive among health workers and in violation of the Magna Carta for health workers.
“It is a blatant disregard to the basic rationale and principles of the Magna Carta that all health workers are actually exposed to hazardous and risky situations in line with their duties and function under the constitutional mandate on health,” the statement of the DOH-XI employees cited.
The DOH-XI employees added that the joint circular is “a brazen attempt to tamper and sabotage the noble purpose of the Magna Carta to give health workers their due in return of their highly hazardous and risky jobs”.
The Magna Carta for Health Workers or RA 7305 mandates for the promotion and improvement of “the social and economic well-being of the health workers, their living and working conditions and terms of employment”.
But recently, through the said drafted joint circular, the DBM and the DOH have agreed to review some of the provisions of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Magna Carta. Both agencies believe that there might provisions in the IRR that are no longer applicable for implementation.
The DOH employees on the other hand sees this move as an attempt by the government to remove important provisions of the IRR especially those that pertains to their benefits.
“The DBM must release now the budget for our benefits. Health workers are demoralized and their works are affected. This will also affect the services to our constituents especially the poor,” Placido added.
Other demands of the health employees include the increase of the health budget for personal services; the stopping of the payment of foreign debt as it did not benefit the poor sector; and the scrapping of House Bill 6069 and Senate Bill 3031 that calls for the corporatization and privatization of public hospitals.
“Another threat to us is the corporatization of the health services which is in line with the privatization program of the government,” Placido lamented.
He added that poor constituents will be affected by this measure and the security of tenure of health workers will be threatened once the health services and facilities will be given to the control of private companies and corporations.
Meawhile, Sheena Duazo, the spokesperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Southern Mindanao (BAYAN-SMR), in a text message to davaotoday.com said they are fully supporting the protest staged by the employees of the DOH.
“Bayan has been in the forefront in the campaign to stop privatization of our basic utilities and services which is the primary goal of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program of the Aquino government under the dictate of the US-controlled financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB),” Duazo said.
She added that it is necessary for every sector in our society to register strong opposition against privatization and PPP in general and “expose the continuing subservience of the Aquino government to US imperialist dictates.”
Duazo also said that access to health care is a human right and not a privilege. (Alex D. Lopez,davaotoday.com)
