Bill seeks pay hike for nurses

MANILA, Philippines — Deputy Speaker Paolo Duterte has filed a measure that seeks to increase the salary of nurses in the private sector to make it at par with their counterparts in public hospitals, whose entry level pay is pegged at a maximum of P31,500 a month.

House Bill 7659 or the Minimum Wage for Nurses in the Private Sector Act of 2020 urges the National Wages Productivity Commission of the Department of Labor and Employment to establish a minimum wage for nurses in private hospitals.

“With this bill, we will provide adequate remuneration and benefits to compensate nurses who are facing danger every day in their duty as frontliners in the battle against the coronavirus,” Dutertesaid.

“Despite our nurses’ efforts, they are still paid considerably less than their counterparts in the public sector. Private nurses receive an average salary of P9,757 a month, which is less than what a minimum wage earner gets each month,” he lamented.