A LABOR LEADER on Tuesday said they felt cheated over the House of Representatives’ decision to rescind a proposed Magna Carta for village healthcare workers that dealt a last-minute blow to the long-sought reform days before the 19th Congress ends.
“This is a gross betrayal of around 300,000 barangay healthcare workers across the country who have dedicated their lives to serving as the first line of healthcare in our communities,” Jillian Roque, chief of staff of Public Services Labor Independent Confederation, said in a statement.
The House approved the proposal, which sought to provide incentives and benefits for barangay healthcare workers, in December 2022, with a counterpart Senate bill approved in February. Congressmen rescinded the transmittal of the House bill to the Senate last week.
Village healthcare workers in cities and remote municipalities face stark wage disparities, with those in low-income areas earning as little as P50 per month, according to a UNI Global Union statement.
“This betrayal stings all the more because it came after their hopes were raised — especially before the elections — only to be crushed immediately after,” said Ms. Roque. “This cruel reversal exposes not only the low regard for our health and care workers, but also the glaring lack of political will to advance universal health care.” — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
