MANILA Rep. Manny Lopez on Friday urged the concerned government agencies and employers to release all the benefits due to healthcare staff, including frontline barangay health workers in the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as the country celebrates Labor Day this Saturday.

Lopez, who chairs the House committee on Metro Manila development, said now is the time to pay respect and express gratitude to them and give tribute to their contributions as workers.

Reflecting on these significant Labor Day events, Lopez added, “The healthcare service has long been noted to be an honorable profession, but in the light of this pandemic we should also highlight and underscore its value and importance.”

He said the provisions of all the commitments and benefits due to healthcare workers, as mandated by law, should be honored being the present-day heroes.

“Throughout our nation’s history, May 1st or Labor Day, has seen significant events or passages of laws that have made this holiday even more meaningful,” Lopez, who represents the 1st District of Manila or Tondo area, pointed out.

Lopez has championed the plight of the healthcare workers or frontliners who bear the brunt of the ongoing pandemic.

Previously, Lopez pushed for the construction of a national monument to honor the sacrifice of healthcare workers with the “Bantayog ng mga Bayaning Frontliners” under his House Bill (HB) No. 9159 or “Frontliners Recognition Act,” as well as an investigation into the delay in the release of allowances and other medical benefits due to them under House Resolution (HR) No. 1704.

“During the very first celebration of Labor Day in the Philippines in 1903, workers marched and demanded independence from the American government,” he said.

On the same day in 1974, he said then President Ferdinand E. Marcos signed Presidential Decree (PD) No. 442, known as the “Labor Code of the Philippines,” to ensure that the rights of employees, together with employers, are protected and that neither is subject to unfair treatment or exploitation.

Also on May 1st, 1991, Lopez said then Pope John Paul II issued his “Centesimus Annus,” wherein the Good Father reinforced the need for social justice, the right to form private associations and labor unions, and for the State to protect its workers.

In NCR, as of April 28, 2021, Lopez said there were 7,629 claims received by the Department of Health (DOH) from health workers who have contracted COVID-19 and only 3,727 of these claims were paid.

Out of the 7,000+ claims, he said 1,814 claims were said to have not qualified, 796 for evaluation, 99 for verification, and 250 considered to have incomplete documents.

“Gusto ko po malaman bakit hindi nag-qualify ‘yung halos dalawang libong health workers. Ito ba ay dahil hindi sila directly assigned sa COVID-19 ward or patients? Hindi po ba sapat na ikaw ay nagtratrabaho sa isang health facility sa panahon ng pandemya? Baka kasi kailanganin nating bisitahin ang mga polisiya patungkol diyan. Doon naman sa incomplete documents, ano po ba ang mga documents na kailangan i-submit? Baka naman po kasi dagdag pabigat pa yung requirements sa ating mga health workers or sa kanilang pamilya na nag-hihirap na nga. Nais din nating alamin kung paano ba ang computation ng mga Hazard Pay at Special Risk Allowance (SRA), may mga quarantine leave ba ang ating mga health workers o ibinabawas ito sa kanilang sick leave at vacation leave? Ang layunin po ng kinatawang ito ay pagaanin ang mahirap na ngang buhay ng ating mga frontliners dahil kung wala sila, hindi natin mapagtatagumpayan ang labang ito,” the Tondo solon insisted.

“Like our military and police forces, our healthcare workers have paid the price for fighting the COVID-19 virus – an unseen and most unforgiving foe – in blood, sweat, and tears. Now, we add our healthcare workers in the same sentence as our other traditional frontliners,” he said.

“In the light of this recent surge of the virus, our healthcare services have been taxed beyond their limit. Honoring our commitments and providing benefits to them is the least we can do. And that is why we must ensure it,” Lopez said. “We call on all our government agencies and the private sector to follow through on these obligations. This is our moral duty.”