MANILA - Reports of underpaid health workers "will not be taken lightly," an official of the Department of Health said as they started investigating such complaint.

This, as Sorsogon Gov. Francis "Chiz" Escudero recently bared that health workers in the province were unpaid amid the pandemic.

Video courtesy of PTV

In a public press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they have already ordered the regional director to investigate the cause of delay.

"Ayaw namin na nagkakaroon ng disadvantaged situations ang aming health care workers (We don't want our health care workers at a disadvantage) at this time of the pandemic because we know that they are working hard and that they deserve their salary," Vergeire said.

Escudero, a former senator, took to Twitter on Thursday saying only two of the 11 nurses sent by the DOH to augment their COVID-19 response "only got a salary for two" of the 5 months they worked.

The remaining 9 "didn’t get any salary after working for over a month,” he added, saying only one nurse is left working in their province.

• DOH investigates Escudero’s complaint on unpaid Sorsogon nurses

Medical frontliners have also taken to the streets to decry the delay in salaries.

• PH medical workers take to streets due to delayed payments, grievances