‘Nurses, teachers joining PNP due to higher pay’

MANILA, Philippines — Many new nurses and teachers are opting to join the Philippine National Police (PNP) because of higher pay, the chairperson of the House of Representatives committee on health said yesterday.

Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan said she has constituents who are nursing and education board passers who have applied for employment in the PNP instead of practicing their professions.

“The reason is the higher basic monthly salary in the police. With the doubling of military and police compensation by President Duterte, the lowest-paid policeman and soldier now receive about P30,000 a month,” she said.

In contrast, she said the entry-level pay in public health facilities and schools is P21,000.

Tan has scheduled a review of laws on compensation for nurses and other public health care personnel, including the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002 and the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers. 

Under these laws, she said government nurses should be receiving Salary Grade 15 pay, instead of Salary Grade 11. 

She said she could not understand why nurses are getting P21,000, or Salary Grade 11 compensation, when they should be entitled to Salary Grade 15, which pays at least P31,000.

“We will propose a new law or amendments in existing laws, if that is what is needed,” she said.

Tan said she also could not understand why nurses hired by the Department of Health (DOH) for deployment in the provinces are paid P30,000-P31,000, while those serving in provincial hospitals are receiving only P20,000-P21,000.

 “Nurses in hospitals run by local government units (LGU) will naturally join the DOH. Thus, we now have many LGU health facilities that are short of nursing personnel,” she said.

She pointed out that under the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers, the difference in salary between DOH and local nurses should be subsidized by the national government.

 “But the implementing rules and regulations state that it would be charged against the LGUs’ internal revenue allotments (IRA), which is not what the law provides,” she stressed.

 IRA represents the share of provinces, cities, towns and barangays of national taxes collected in their respective areas.

There are several bills in the House that seek to upgrade the entry-level salary of government nurses and teachers from Salary Grade 11 to 15, or from P21,000 to P31,000.

Party-list group Ang Nars had petitioned the Supreme Court to compel the Department of Budget and Management and Malacañang to follow the mandate of the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002 on the minimum salary for government nurses.

The case is still pending. The government, represented by the solicitor general, is opposing the grant of SG 15 pay to its nursing personnel. Unfortunately for nurses, Ang Nars lost in last May’s elections. But other party-list groups have taken up the cudgels for them.