MANILA - Sen. Risa Hontiveros has filed a resolution seeking to investigate the delayed release of a special risk allowance for health workers who have been manning hospitals since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines earlier this year.

Senate Resolution No. 584 was filed on December 1, after several health workers' groups staged protests over their unreleased allowances guaranteed under President Rodrigo Duterte's Administrative Order No. 35 and under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act.

• Nurses to hold protest action on Friday, consider filing case over non-payment of benefits

"Puro tayo (All we've been giving is) lip service sa mga (for our) health workers natin. We cannot keep making promises and underdelivering," Hontiveros said in a statement.

"We need to investigate so we can loosen the bottleneck and create policies that allow us to compensate them and their families fairly and immediately," she said.

LOOK: Sen. @risahontiveros files resolution urging the Senate to probe the slow release of special risk allowance for #COVID19 health frontliners. pic.twitter.com/2QrOBGWJ3l

— Kat Domingo (@_katrinadomingo) December 3, 2020

• Senate to DOH: Release health workers' COVID-19 allowance immediately

Under the law, health workers tending to COVID-19 patients are entitled to receive P3,000 every month on top of their regular salaries and benfits.

Some P20.5 billion for the Philippines' COVID-19 response, including special allowances for health workers, was released in October, Hontiveros noted.

"Bakit may 16,764 medical frontliners pang hindi nababayaran? Nasaan ang bottleneck?" she asked.

(Why are there still 16,764 medical frontliners who are still unpaid? Where is the bottleneck?)

• 16,000 health frontliners yet to receive COVID-19 hazard pay: DOH

Hontiveros urged the chamber to expedite the investigation, noting that doctors, nurses and other hospital staff are "also victims of this economic crisis we are all experiencing."

"They do their job despite the risks and save millions of lives everyday," she said.

"Our minimum but important duty is to at least pay them right and on time," she said.

Earlier this year, the government drew flak for failing to provide adequate personal protective equipment for medical staff battling the highly contagious disease, prompting the private sector to respond to health workers' appeals for help.

In mid-2020, health workers also questioned the delayed release of the promised financial aid for doctors, nurses, and medical staff who died due to COVID-19.

• Nurses demand protective gear, transparency in coronavirus fight

RELATED VIDEO

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv