Health workers from four major hospitals protested with a noise barrage on January 28 to demand that the government distribute the long-overdue medical allowance for 2025 and 2026. Protest participants included health workers from the Philippine Heart Center (PHC), National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC), and Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP). The medical allowance amounts to ₱7,000.

The health workers also demanded a ₱36,000 entry-level salary for staff, ₱50,000 entry-level salary for nurses and other health professionals, job security, and the mass hiring of regular health workers to address the chronic understaffing in public hospitals.

“While we continue to provide quality care to patients, hospital management continues to ignore our rightful demands. Health workers should not be forced to protest just to receive what is rightfully ours. This allowance is not a privilege it is a legally mandated benefit that health workers and other government employees have earned through years of service,” NKTI-Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) president Jocelyn Guinto said.

This is the third protest collectively launched by health workers from government-owned and controlled hospitals. Meanwhile, the hospitals’ management remains silent and unresponsive to their grievances.

GOCC (government-owned and controlled corporation) management claimed that the benefits they receive are already covered under the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers—including medical treatment and services—and therefore they are no longer entitled to the allowance under Executive Order No. 64.

According to the Department of Health (DOH), affected health workers may appeal the denial of their benefits to the hospitals’ board of trustees, which has the legal authority to decide on the matter.

Health workers countered that appealing to a higher authority is no longer necessary since the president already approved EO 64. They said the real issue is why the DOH and the management of GOCC hospitals are not enforcing the provision clearly stating they are entitled to the benefit.

“In our case at PCMC, aside from not releasing our 2025 allowance, even our ₱30,000 incentive under the Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA) for the same year has not been released, supposedly because of lack of funds. Will it always be like this?” nurse and PCMC Employees Association-AHW president Douglas Tagapulot said. He condemned the government for claiming having no funds when billions are lost to corruption.

He added that workers from other hospitals and civilian agencies are already waiting for their 2026 allowance, while health workers have yet to receive the allowance for both 2025 and 2026.

The protesters called on senators and congress representatives to investigate the issue. They demanded that the allowance be given in cash, not through HMO or health insurance schemes. The benefit should be released in full and without deductions. Health workers and other government employees urgently need the money to meet their medical and personal needs, they said.