By John Clifford Lintao
CAINTA, Rizal – A daughter of a local nurse who died after being infected with COVID-19 claimed discrepancy in the allocation of hazard pay given by the local government for medical frontliners.
In a Facebook post by Joie Cruz, she expressed disappointment over the hazard pay received by her mother, Maria Theresa Cruz, a nurse at Cainta Municipal Hospital, which is under the supervision of the local government. Her mother died on July 22, before receiving the result of her COVID-19 swab test.
Joie said that her mother got a hazard pay of P150 per day, instead of the P500 she expected.
Mayor Johnielle Keith Nieto explained how their LGU prioritized its limited resources during the first few weeks of the pandemic, resulting in hazard pay of P300 for their local health frontliners.
Nieto, in his Facebook post, explained that the municipal government, through the municipal hospital, gave P300 hazard pay per day to Cruz, because the local government could only afford that much.
As a medical frontliner, Cruz had been receiving P239 as hazard pay plus an amount of P62.93 to make up the P300 per day pegged by the local government.
Nieto has extended his apologies to the family if they felt they did not receive enough assistance from the municipal government and the Cainta Municipal Hospital.
The mayor added that the local government has extended P50,000 cash to the Cruz family.
Nieto said that the people who are hungry and in need of immediate assistance are the the priorities of his government.
“Sila ang priority ko — ‘yung mga taong umasa sa gobyerno dahil sa pandemya,” said Nieto in a radio interview.
Nieto said he has allotted P15 million for the hazard pay of the local government health personnel.