Palace vows P1 million aid for nurse who died of COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang has assured the family of a nurse in Cainta, Rizal who died of the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 of the assistance due to  health workers under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.

“Pinabibilis ang P1 million na dapat matanggap ng nurse na yan,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque told a virtual press briefing yesterday, referring to Ma. Theresa Cruz of the Cainta Municipal Hospital.

Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya, spokesman for the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), said they would look into the reported hazard pay cut of  Cruz.

The hospital reportedly reduced the hazard pay of Cruz to P64 per day when she should get P500.

”A few months before my mom passed away, she had been telling me about how long she and her co-nurses had been waiting for their COVID hazard pay... My mom died before she even got her hazard pay,” her daughter Joie said in a post on Facebook.

Malaya said it was the first case of hazard pay cut reported to the DILG.

He said the municipal government would be asked to explain the circumstances for the pay cut, including the alleged delay in its release, and refusal for a swab test on Cruz even though she was exposed to an infected patient.— Romina Cabrera, Neil Jayson Servallos