Solons insert budget provision guaranteeing across-the-board increases in the salaries of gov't nurses
With a minimum monthly salary of P32,055 and nearly P97,000 maximum, government nurses may be expected to repel next year the lure of working abroad for high wages.
This, after the House of Representatives’s Committee on Appropriations, approved a motion to insert a rider in the proposed 2021 General Appropriations Act that would guarantee an across the board hike in salaries for nurses in government hospitals and health care institutions next year.
Deputy Speaker Henry Oaminal (NP, Misamis Occidental) and Asst. Minority Leader France Castro (ACT Teachers Partylist) moved for the adjustment of nurses salaries as guaranteed under Republic Act 9173 or the amended Philippine Nurses Act of 1998.
During the budget deliberations on the House plenary hall, Oaminal moved for the inclusion of a special provision in the House Bill No. 7727 or the 2021 GAA budget for the payment of compensation adjustment to include salaries of nurses.
Oaminal said the salaries of nurses in this proposed special provision should be in compliance to the Supreme Court decision that upheld Ang Nars Partylist in its bid to implement Section 32 of RA 9173.
This section provides for the salary adjustment of entry level nurses or Nurse 1 position from Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 15, or from monthly salary of P22,316 to P32,053 or an increase of almost P10,000.
Oaminal’s motion also provided adjustments for salaries of positions of Nurse II from SG 15 to SG 17; Nurse III from SG 17 to SG 19; Nurse IV from SG 19 to SG 20; Nurse V from SG 20 to SG 22; Nurse VI from SG 22 to SG 24 and Nurse VII from SG 24 to 25.
The House official said a better way of granting salary adjustments for nurses is to pass a new law. However, he aired doubts it would be enacted in the current Congress.
In her interpellation of Nueva Ecija Rep. Micaela Violago, Castro said it would be the height of injustice against government nurses if the provision of RA 9173 providing for higher entry level pay remains unimplemented.
She said the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law, thus, compliance by the government is expected.
Rising to defend Castro’s position, Oaminal cited the role of nurses in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that together with the leadership of the Department of Health, nurses deserve public commendation.