In a post she made, she has mentioned that her mother and co – workers waited for their hazard pay, which is going to be used for Maxene, their younger sister, and for her learning materials from Groiler Home Learning Materials. Tess and her co – workers have been expecting P30,000 based from their daily rate of P500, which was announced by the Department of Health (DoH).
The post continues as Joie states that when she went to the hospital to claim her benefits and process documents, she was told the amount is around P7,000 only. “Apparently, the COVID hazard pay of the nurses in their public hospital has been reduced to just P150 per day and on top of it were deductions that were not even properly explained by the hospital administration. In the end, it appears my mom was only given a freaking P64.18 (USD 1.31) per day for her COVID hazard pay for 41 days.”
Dr. GK Galvez Tan, son of former Health Secretary Jaime Galvez Tan, had a lot to say about the aforementioned amount as well. In a Facebook post last March, he mentions that it’s not about the money and how DoH may hold back. “If this is indeed all they can give, I want them to show us, point by point, peso by peso, why this is all they can afford.”
Joie emphasized her sentiment in her post as she writes, “This issue is not about monetary value. This issue is about how governments lie and how we take for granted and exploit our frontliners in the face of this pandemic. This issue is about how my mom was treated way, way below than what she deserves in a local public hospital where she worked in for more than 10 years—the first four years of those were without any salary.”
Even if she and her family grieve for Tess’ death, they’ve promised forgiveness for those who feel shortchanged in their dues, especially her mother. She also adds that her family would be given justice and proper action against these wrongdoers.
She added a follow up post saying, “This fight is bigger than my mom. This fight is not just to honor her memory, but more so, to help the living—our exploited healthcare workers who are continuously deceived and treated like garbage by people in power.”