Malacañang is seeking guidance on how to implement an order of President Rodrigo Duterte overturning the demotion and approving the pay hike of some 30,000 state nurses as funds may not be enough to cover their back pay.
“This is why we are seeking guidance [from Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea] because it appears there is not enough funding for that now,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.
“But do not worry. If the guidance of ES is to release the backpay, then that can be included in the 2022 budget,” the Palace official added.
Duterte earlier released a memorandum overturning a circular of the Budget department and upgrading the salary for the rank Nurse 2 by about P3,000.
“[Budget] Secretary Wendel [Avisado] is confident we will be able to source funds from the existing budget of the Department of Health,” Roque added.
The Department of Budget and Management raised the salary of entry-level nurses last year but at the same time dissolved the Nurse 7 or “chief nurse” rank, effectively demoting the positions of Nurses 2 to 7 by one rank while retaining their salary level.
Meanwhile, a party-list legislator urged the DBM to tap the P29.3-billion compensation adjustment fund in the 2021 national budget for the demoted nurses’ back pay.
Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor said the appropriation, officially called miscellaneous personnel benefits fund (MPBF), “is precisely for contingencies like the salary differential our nurses are entitled to because the Office of the President has reversed their demotion by the DBM last year.”
As the budget law states, the MPBF could be used “for deficiencies in authorized salaries, bonuses, allowances, associated premiums, and similar benefits” of government personnel, Defensor said.
He said the fund is on top of regular appropriations for salaries, which amount to about P1.3 trillion this year.
Defensor added that savings from last year’s P56.7-billion MPBF could also be used for the demoted nurses’ salary differential.