HEALTH workers staged a protest at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) in Quezon City on Wednesday, demanding the release of their medical allowance benefits. During the protest, workers from government-owned or -controlled corporation (GOCC) hospitals such as NKTI, the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, and the Lung Center of the Philippines called for the immediate release of their annual benefits for 2025, which amount to a total of P7,000 per employee. The group claimed that while Department of Health (DOH)-run hospitals and government employees from various agencies have already received the said medical allowance, GOCC hospitals have yet to receive theirs. “This unequal treatment raises serious concerns about fairness, consistency and accountability in the implementation of EO No. 64,” the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) said in a statement. Executive Order 64, signed in 2024, authorizes the grant of a medical allowance of up to P7,000 per year beginning in 2025 for qualified government civilian personnel, intended as a subsidy for health maintenance organization (HMO)-type benefits. However, GOCC hospital management has argued that their employees are already covered by the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers, or Republic Act 7305, which provides entitlement to medical treatment and services. Because of this, they were told GOCC hospital workers are no longer entitled to the allowance under the executive order. Union leaders rejected this, arguing the benefits under EO 64 and RA 7305 should be separate and not treated as mutually exclusive. “We have earned this allowance through our continued service, especially amid difficult working conditions. It is our right to receive the full P7,000 in cash. Every peso counts for our families, especially with the rising cost of living,” said Jocelyn Guinto, president of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute Employees Association-AHW. Meanwhile, Sally Ejes, president of the Philippine Heart Center Employees Association-AHW, argued that benefits should not be exclusive to DOH-run and public hospitals alone. The DOH said the grievance should be clarified with the “relevant legal offices.” “The best recourse for the aggrieved is to appeal the denial by management of any asserted benefits to the board of trustees of the GOCC hospitals, which shall then have the discretion to weigh the merits and decide according to the evidence and law. We encourage those affected to pursue this legal remedy for immediate resolution,” said DOH spokesman Dr. Albert Domingo. The group said they will not be silenced and will continue to call for their “denied and legally mandated benefits.” “While billions of pesos are lost to corruption, corrupt government officials remain unpunished and unaccountable, and health workers are denied their legally mandated benefits while ordinary Filipinos continue to bear the brunt of an overstretched health care system, this situation is both unjust and unacceptable,” AHW said.