BUDGET authorities on Thursday announced that about P27 billion will be disbursed to settle unpaid emergency allowance for health care workers.

In a statement, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said they will release the additional funds on Friday.

This is in accordance with the Department of Health's (DoH) official request in May for the issuance of a Special Allotment Release Order and Notice of Cash Allocation amounting to P27.453 billion.

The amount was said to cover the payment of over 5 million remaining validated unpaid Health Emergency Allowances (HEA) and 4,283 Covid-19 Sickness and Death Compensation claims for eligible health care and non-health care workers.

Pangandaman said the amount was presented to the Senate during the May 20 hearing and was also proposed by the DoH for inclusion in its 2025 National Expenditure Program.

"This is a promise fulfilled. Even though the DoH requested this for 2025, the DBM made an effort to fulfill it earlier because our workers in the health sector deserve it," Pangandaman said.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has already released a P91.283 billion fund to the Health department for the Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances (Pheba).

This is intended to cover all health care workers' benefits from 2021 until last year, with P73.261 of the total was allocated specifically for HEA.

Pheba includes Special Risk Allowance, compensation for Covid-19 sickness and death, and additional benefits like meals, accommodation, and transportation allowances for health care workers.

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