All travelers departing from China, Hong Kong and Macau who are over two years old, including American citizens, are covered by the new rules regardless of vaccination status.
EARLY this month, President Rodrigo Duterte had expressly announced his decision to increase the special risk allowance (SRA) of medical volunteers at the frontlines in the battle against Covid-19 and following its approval, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released additional funding amounting to P1.185 billion for payment of the SRA of some 63,812 eligible public and private healthcare workers (HCWs) who are directly catering to or are in contact with coronavirus patients.
This came after the president was informed that health workers and medical volunteers get an allowance known as the ‘special risk allowance’ worth about PhP5,000 only, which in actuality still depended on their overall work, and in reaction the Chief Executive stated that he wants to “raise the amount” since it s “too low considering the dangers” our frontliners face, especially now with the presence of the highly contagious Omicron variant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2 that causes Covid-19.
“I think the P5,000, masyadong maliit ‘yon, considering the danger. You take into account the possibility that they themselves will get COVID-19. I will increase. ‘Di ko pa masabi magkano,” Duterte pointed out. “To those who are entertaining the idea of getting into the roll of volunteers, I will raise the amount. Ano ba naman ‘yang pera, ubusin na natin itong pera ng gobyernong ito para sa inyo. I don’t think we’ll run out of money,” he added.
For his part, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III explained that the special risk allowance of medical volunteers is on top of the hazard duty pay and salaries given to them, but he agreed that it needs to be increased. Overall, the DBM has now released a total of PhP11.856 billion, which benefitted 562,928 HCWs who shall receive an SRA not exceeding P5,000 per month from December 20, 2020 to June 30, 2021. The SRA is an additional benefit received by HCWs, apart from the existing compensations as prescribed under the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers and the Department of Health-DBM Joint Circular No. 1, series of 2016.
