The removal of some barangay health workers by reelected or new barangay captains in some towns soon after the Oct. 30, 2023 BSKE, which merited a headline story in the Tribune, is apparently not an isolated story.
As accounts in the national media showed, some 80,000 BHWs have been dismissed in various parts of the country following the elections in a violation of a joint memorandum by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Health (DOH).
Aimed at providing protection to BHWs against termination without due process, the agreement allows them to apply for accreditation with the city and municipal local government units, notably a committee under the Local Health Board.
The LHB is mandated to act on complaints filed regarding the discontinuance of services of accredited BHWs and, if the Board decides that cause of termination is not justified, it may temporarily assign the concerned BHW to another nearby barangay or health facility upon Board’s discretion.
Until now, however, there is no available data as to how many BHWs in Catanduanes have ben unceremoniously axed from their roles as volunteers in the delivery of primary health care services in the barangays.
The Tribune has yet to determine whether the 11 municipal LGUs have indeed created the accreditation committees or whether any complaints have been filed by the fired BHWs with the health boards.
The possibility that intense politics at the village level would affect the services of the health volunteers could have been addressed by the national legislature as early as the first half of the year.
In fact, more than a year ago on December 12, 2022, the House of Representatives unanimously approved on third and final reading House Bill 2557 or the Magna Carta for Barangay Health Workers.
Once enacted, the measure would entitle accredited BHWs to incentives and benefits that include monthly honoraria of P3,000, hazard allowance of P1,000, transportation allowance of P1,000, subsistence allowance for meals worth P100, one-time retirement cash incentive of P10,000, health benefits, insurance coverage and benefits, vacation and maternity leaves and cash gifts.
An overwhelming 258 votes, including that of TGP Partylist Rep. Jose “Bong” Teves Jr. and Catanduanes Cong. Eulogio Rodriguez, pushed the bill up to the Senate on the same day.
However, much to the dismay of the Lower House, their esteemed colleagues in the Upper House have yet to consolidate their six versions of the Magna Carta for BHWs, taking into consideration HB No. 6557 approved by Congress.
Now that the senators’ drawn-out deliberations on which version to approve have been overtaken by the events arising out of the divisive barangay elections, they should buckle down to work and approve the law that the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has identified as a priority measure 12 months ago.
There is no need to waste time arguing about whose version should be considered, as the 80,000 dismissed BHWs and their families all over the country could remember the senators’ dilly-dallying come the 2025 midterm elections.