A PARTY-LIST congressman on Thursday criticized the Department of Health (DOH) for not settling over P5.15 billion in unpaid Health Emergency Allowances (HEA) owed to around 47,000 barangay health workers (BWHs), six years after the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the House Committee on Appropriations’ 2027 budget deliberations, Kamanggagawa Party-list Rep. Elijah “Eli” San Fernando questioned Health Secretary Edwin Mercado over the absence of a dedicated HEA line item in the proposed 2027 National Expenditure Program.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic, we were so proud to call our health care workers and BHWs our heroes, but we cannot even fully provide them the simple Health Emergency Allowance,” San Fernando said.
“It has been six years since 2020, and until now, they still have not received it; the problem keeps being passed from DOH to DBM (Department of Budget and Management), then to hospitals and LGUs (local government units), and this is no longer acceptable,” he said.
San Fernando said a 2026 survey covering 294 cities and municipalities found that 143 localities had not released any HEA, leaving 22,993 BHWs unpaid for all 25 months.
Mercado acknowledged 150,000 verified HEA claims worth P741 million and vowed to pay backpay claims supported by validated data. James Daniel Danio
