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Rhodina Villanueva - The Philippine Star
April 1, 2025 | 12:00am
Health workers attend to patients at the Mandaluyong City Medical Center on January 5, 2022.
Walter Bollozos
MANILA, Philippines — Distribution of health workers’ unpaid COVID-19 allowance has been suspended until May 11, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
Disbursement and expenditure of public funds before the midterm elections in May are prohibited, per a Commission on Elections resolution.
“The release of any available funds intended to pay the health emergency allowance (HEA) and COVID-19 sickness and death compensation claims of eligible public and private health workers will be put on hold from March 28 until May 11,” the DOH said.
The agency earlier directed the Centers for Health Development and state hospitals to expedite the disbursement of sub-allotted funds for the HEA and claims of health workers.
Last month, the DOH requested the Commission on Audit to conduct a special audit of previously released funds for HEA payments to ensure proper accounting of public expenditures.
More appeals have been filed for additional funding covering public health emergency benefits and allowances (PHEBA), the DOH noted.
As of Dec. 12, 2024, PHEBA requirements reportedly increased to P110.30 billion from P103.5 billion.
Despite the final and validated computation of HEA payments filed before the deadline, the DOH and Department of Budget and Management received from health facilities appeals and additional requests for HEA payments that were not covered by previous releases.
