ILOILO – More than 1,300 health workers, including vaccinators, in this province will receive their One COVID-19 Allowance (OCA) soon.
Dr. Maria Socorro Colmenares-Quiñon, head of the Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO), said the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 will release the OCA this week.
She told Panay News that their human resources office is already processing the payroll.
The IPHO head, however, clarified that only the March 2022 OCA will be released, while the provincial government is fast-tracking the processing of the remaining OCA for April.
One measure is to request the DOH central office to download the funds directly to the provincial government instead of downloading it to the DOH-6.
For this to happen, Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. could request the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for an authority to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the DOH.
“Gina-follow up ta man nga madala sa sini nga session or this week session sang SP nga mahatagan si governor sang authority to sign ang MOA kon diin ang DOH maga-download na lang sang funds sang OCA para kita na lang maobra sang payroll sang aton vaccinators and aton health workers nga gin-hire naton,” explained ni Colmenares-Quiñon.
Based on data, Colmenares-Quiñon said more than 1,300 health workers in the province are qualified to receive the OCA. Of these, over 900 are vaccinators deployed in different sites in the 42 municipalities and one component city of Passi, IPHO personnel, hired personnel deployed at the Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan and Dumangas port in Dumangas, and other workers augmented in some district hospitals.
“Just be patient. Patience is a virtue. Blessings from God await those who are patient,” Colmenares-Quiñon told health workers.
To date, health workers in the province have only received their OCA for January and February 2022.
Colmenares-Quiñon earlier explained that funds are directly downloaded by the DOH central office to its regional office, which is in charge of releasing them to concerned healthcare workers (HCWs) and non-HCWs.
DOH-6 is responsible for making the payroll after vaccinators submit the required documents, such as their daily time record (DTR) and a Land Bank of the Philippines account, she added.
Last Dec. 26, 2022, DOH-6 presented an update on the OCA release.
“As of Dec. 21, DOH-WV posted a 69 percent obligation rate, amounting to more than P766.2 million processed and paid from the P1.1 billion fund allocated for the region,” read part of the news release from the DOH signed by regional director, Dr. Adriano P. Suba-an.
The over P766.2-million OCA grant covered the months of January to June 2022.
The rate that eligible HCWs and non-HCWs receive monthly varies depending on their COVID-19 Risk Exposure Classification (CREC): P9,000 for high risk, P6,000 for moderate risk, and P3,000 for low risk.
Broken down per month, the following HCWs and non-HCWs in public health facilities have already received their OCA:
* January – 16,524 out of 29,928 HCWs and non-HCWs
* February – 7,024 out of 27,254
* March – 4,158 out of 19,863
* April – 3,503 of 17,172
* May – 1,753 out of 18,221
* June – 509 out of 11,335
For private health facilities, here is the breakdown of HCWs and non-HCWs provided with OCA to date:
* January – 13,239 out of 13,239
* February – 13,703 out of 13,703
* March – 11,534 out of 10,509./PN
