đź“·: Alliance of Health Workers | FB
Enraged health workers from four Government Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCC) hospitals, Philippine Heart Center (PHC), National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC), and the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP), staged a lunch break noise barrage protest today to press for the immediate release of their long-overdue medical allowances amounting to ₱7,000 for the years 2025 and 2026.
Beyond the unpaid benefits, health workers are also demanding:
- ₱36,000 entry salary for health workers
- ₱50,000 entry salary for nurses and allied health professionals
- Job security for all health workers
- Mass hiring of regular health workers to address chronic understaffing in public hospitals
“While we continue to provide quality care to patients, hospital management continues to ignore our rightful demands. Health workers should not be forced to protest just to receive what is rightfully ours. This allowance is not a privilege it is a legally mandated benefit that health workers and other government employees have earned through years of service. The continued delay and non-payment is unacceptable and deeply demoralizing among our ranks,” said Jocelyn Guinto, president of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute Employees Association-Alliance of Health Workers.
This marks the third collective action carried out by GOCC hospital health workers, yet management has remained silent, offering no clear commitment to release the allowances.
Hospital management has argued that health workers are already covered by the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers (Republic Act No. 7305), which provides entitlement to medical treatment and services, and therefore claims GOCC health workers are no longer entitled to the medical allowance under Executive Order No. 64.
In a January 14, 2026 news report, Department of Health spokesperson Alberto Domingo said aggrieved health workers may appeal the denial of benefits to the boards of trustees of their respective GOCC hospitals, which have the authority to decide based on evidence and the law.
However, health workers insist that EO No. 64 already carries the force of the highest authority, having been issued by the President of the Philippines.
They question why its provisions are not being implemented by the DOH and hospital management, especially when it clearly states they are among those entitled to the benefit.
“In our case at the PCMC, aside from the non-release of the medical allowance for 2025, even our CNA incentives amounting to ₱30,000 for the same year have yet to be released, allegedly due to a lack of funds. Is it always like this? When it comes to our benefits, the government and hospital management always claim there are no funds, yet billions are lost to corruption and to this day, no one has been held accountable yet,” stated Douglas Tagapulot, a nurse and president of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center Employees Association-Alliance of Health Workers.
“We call on our senators and congressmen to investigate this issue. GOCC hospitals are the sole health institutions that have yet to receive this allowance, while other hospitals and civilian government agencies are already awaiting the 2026 release. We stand firm in our demand for the immediate release of the medical allowance for 2025,” lamented Sally Ejes, president of the Philippine Heart Center Employees Association-Alliance of Health Workers.
Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) unions nationwide reiterated that the medical allowance must be provided in cash rather than coursed through HMO schemes.
The group stressed that the benefit should be received in full and without deductions, as health workers urgently need the cash to meet their medical, health-related, and personal needs. (ZIA LUNA)
